The Innocent and the Damned
by Jade Rotaski Queen of the Damned
Summary: RoyxEd Summery: 19 year old Roy Mustang didn't expect much from life, even while being in the military, until an encounter with an abused child named Edward turns his world upside down. Better explaination inside. RoyxEd people! Chapter 6 is FINALLY up!
1. Ed

Hello all! I'm back with a new story; this originally was going to be a part of my drabbles series but as the story progressed, I found myself wanting to go into more detail, but to do that would mean more chapters. To anyone asking, yes Ed will grow up in this fic and there will be at least 1 sex scene in it implied or otherwise, but depending on your views Ed may or may not be of legal age when the sex actually happens (Smirks evilly) This is an AT (Alternate timeline) Fic because I've messed with everyone's ages and stuff, it is also major Shota which is an older legal man with a child, Yaoi (Obviously if it's Roy/Ed) there will be no Al in it as far as I know in this story, Hoinhiem is NOT Edward's father in this story and there is a hint of the anime loveless due to the fact Ed has cat ears and a tail and will lose them when he loses his virginity.

Thanks to Konekochan for reading a part of my story and encouraging me to make this a multi chapter story instead of a drabble.

(Coughs) All that put aside I don't own FMA and probably never will. Please enjoy read and review!

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The Innocent and the Damned

Chapter 1- Ed

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When 19 year old Lieutenant Roy Mustang first joined the military less than a month ago he figured that he would know what to do in any situation; his family came from a long line of Generals and commanders in the military, so it was no surprise that the dark haired teen had followed in his families footsteps and became a state alchemist. The only con about the job he had was the paperwork; he hated it with a passion and avoided it when he could but his colleague and fellow Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye had a gun, a very shiny gun, she also happened to be a very good shot with her gun and never hesitated to pull it out on him whenever she thought he was slacking.

Roy had not expected his life to be all that exciting, the world of Artemis was at peace at the moment so the military was not needed for anything major, he expected to find a pretty girl and get married, maybe have a kid or two and settle down. The dark haired alchemist sighed as walked home from work from a yet another very long and boring night in the office. He had expected this night to be just like any other night, he'd walk to his small apartment nearby, make something quick to eat for dinner, then sit down listen to the radio and read a book, with a glass of whiskey in his hands until he was tired enough, then he'd go to bed only to wake up early the next morning to do the same thing all over again. But as fate would have it that was NOT what happened, instead of doing the usual routine of going home, this time as he walked down the empty streets at near enough midnight, he heard the faint sounds of someone whimpering and the sounds of a faint scuffle happening in a nearby an ally he was passing.

Roy paused in his steps upon heard a high pitched yowl, which sounded like someone was trying to strangle, or had just stepped on a cat. "You worthless piece of shit!" a harsh male voice cried out, the voice was rough and slurred, almost sounding as though the man yelling was drunk. There was another whimper then a dull sound of a foot hitting flesh harshly, which was greeted with another pained yowl. The dark haired alchemist scowled, hearing enough; he couldn't just stand by and listen to this man beat up someone. Quickly Roy pulled on his ignition gloves and walked down the dark and dingy alleyway "You are nothing! You hear me!" the voice rang out again, oblivious to anyone walking down the alleyway towards him, the man was tall, his dirty blonde hair was tied into a loose ponytail at the nape of his neck, his bronze coloured eyes glaring at something shaking on the floor, and this mans cloths were dirty, the man raised his fist slowly to aim another punch at the shivering ball on the floor, and Roy had had enough; whoever this person was, this man was obviously not going to stop hurting whoever was on the floor, until he or she either couldn't move, became unconscious or was beaten to death.

The dark haired alchemist snapped his fingers without hesitation just as the blonde man's arm swung downwards and sent a ball of fire after the man, who barley saw it coming and managed to dodge it, even in his drunken and disorderly state. "You have until the count of three to leave before I burn you to ashes and trust me, next time I won't miss" The man paused and stared at Roy, taking in the state uniform he wore, the dark haired alchemist could almost see the gears working in the other mans head, before the blonde man snickered spitefully and held his hands up defensively "Fine, whatever I'm leaving, you can have the little whore, he's no use to me anyway" The man spat bitterly, his voice still slightly slurred, before turning and leaving, his steps slightly unsteady. The dark haired alchemist glared at the man's back and sneakily set the drunken man's hair on fire (He ran away and had to douse his head in a nearby fountain) before he turned to the tiny ball that was shaking on the ground next to him.

Slowly, Roy knelt down to the shivering bundle "Hey are you okay?" he asked softly, not wanting to startle whoever this person was, the bundle on the floor was small almost childlike, Roy's heart clenched praying that it wasn't a child though he knew that it probably was and that upset him; what person tries to beat up an innocent child like that?. Slowly the dark haired teen reached out to touch the shaking figure but it merely yowled in fear and tried to scoot away from him even though there was nowhere for the frightened child to run, its body pressed against a large heavy trashcan and the wall of the alleyway. This action made Roy's heart clench in sympathy; it was obvious that the boy probably hadn't ever been treated kindly before. "Hey now I'm not going to hurt you, I want to help…my name is Roy, do you have a name?" the dark haired alchemist said trying to befriend the child; he couldn't leave a kid here, especially a hurt one, alone in an alleyway at night, so he needed to coax the child into trusting him enough so he could take the kid to his home and find out where it's parents were.

The ball was still shaking but it shifted a little and Roy could see too big golden eyes full of tears peeking out at him suspiciously for a moment there was silence before the golden eyed child finally spoke. "…E-Edward…" The small ball muttered and Roy smiled encouraging the child; he could tell from the voice that the child was male and that the boy probably wasn't much older then 6 or 7 years old.

Roy smiled kindly and held out a hand "Come on you can't stay here all night it's going to rain soon, and I need to take a look at your injuries, so can you stand?" Ed's big golden eyes continued to peep suspiciously at him for a little while longer before the young child struggled to get up and on to his feet. Once the child had gotten up the blonde pulled down his hood and Roy gaped at the boy's face in horror; His left eye was badly bruised and his lip was bleeding heavily, his golden blonde hair was messy and tied in an unkempt braid which had almost fallen out, his furry golden ears on the top of the child's head and his golden tail twitched a little out of nervousness, his cloths which consisted of a black hoodie and cotton pants were filthy from him lying on the floor and there was a large tear in the knee of the pants, if this child wasn't in such a bad state he would have thought the blonde boy very cute. "Can you walk?" Roy asked gently not sure if this kid had the energy, but the blonde child just nodded his head stubbornly and tried to walk off, only for his small legs to collapse under him, making Roy scramble down and scoop the young boy into his arms.

The golden haired child mewed in obvious pain and surprise at the sudden movement as Roy straightened up and carried the boy in his arms; the blonde squeaked a little as being held so high above ground and buried his battered face in Roy's uniform jacket shyly. The dark haired alchemist looked down and noticed this before her smiled "Its okay Ed, I won't drop you I promise" Roy said soothingly, the beaten child just peeked up at him shyly before he nodded timidly and nuzzled Roy's jacket again; The blonde used his sensitive nose to smell the man's jacket, and was able to pick out the smell of soap powder, smoke and some cologne Roy wore; the mixture of these smells was nice, he liked that smell a lot and it felt comforting to Ed, and it was enough to make the blonde neko fall fast asleep in the flame alchemist's arms.

By the time Roy had realized that the small bundle in his arms was asleep, he'd already arrived at his apartment, gently he shifted the boy so his head was resting on his neck and with one arm around the blonde's tiny waist, and he used his free hand to quietly unlock the door and stepped inside his small apartment. The dark haired man's home was of medium size the floors were made of polished oak and the walls painted a soft blue colour. Roy walked into his living room switching on a table lamp and warming up the room by lighting a fire in the fireplace, before he gently placed the injured child onto his comfortable sofa, the warm fire slowly heating up the room. The dark haired teen tried to stand up, but for some reason Ed whimpered pathetically and wouldn't let go of his jacket; resigned to having to letting the sleeping child have his way, he quickly slipped his blue uniform jacket off, as soon as he did so, Ed hugged it to his chest and buried his small face in it like a comfort blanket and Roy couldn't help but smile at the adorable sight, half wishing he had a camera so he could take a picture of it.

Sighing Roy decided he needed to sort the blonde out and went upstairs to fetch a fluffy blue blanket, a t-shirt for the blonde to sleep in and the first aid kit he kept in the bathroom then headed back downstairs, quickly making a detour into the kitchen and made the blonde a cup of hot chocolate; Roy wasn't used to looking after children seen as he had none of his own but he had a little experience after babysitting his best friend, Meas Hughes's daughter Elysia, who was only a couple of years younger then the blonde probably was.

Roy walked back into the living room everything set upon a tray and gently he knelt down next to the sofa and shook the blonde's shoulder "Ed…Edward wake up, I need to treat your injuries...if you wake up you can drink this hot chocolate?" Roy said, but the blonde moaned and tried to bury his little head deeper into the flame alchemist's uniform jacket. The teen chuckled expecting this and tugged the jacket out of the child's weak grip gently, before wafting the hot chocolate under the blonde's nose "Come on wake up and you can have it" Roy said, chuckling in amusement as the blonde blindly pawed at him for the mouth watering beverage the older man was teasing under his nose. Ed mewled sleepily and blinked looking up at Roy, before pouted cutely a shy little blush forming on the blonde's face. The dark haired alchemist chuckled in amusement and handed the child the mug of hot chocolate "Be careful it still might be a bit hot" Roy said as the he watched Ed blow on the hot beverage gently then sip it cautiously.

As the young child occupied himself with the drink, Roy opened the first aid kit and pulled out some cotton wool and some antiseptic "Okay this might hurt a little but it'll do you good" The golden eyed child just nodded as Roy soaked some cotton wool on some antiseptic and dabbed it on the various cuts and scrapes on the blonde's face which made the blonde jerk away a little at first and hiss in pain but otherwise the child didn't move afterwards. Once the dark haired teen finished cleaning up the cuts he placed a couple of plasters on the blonde's face and smiled "Okay that's your face done, I need to check the rest of you now"

The golden haired blonde bit his lip, his eyes wide in fear at these words and Roy frowned, gently he ruffled the blonde's hair "Its okay Ed I wont hurt you I just want to help okay?" the blonde child nodded slowly in understanding, tears still welling in his eyes as he slowly took of his t-shirt to reveal several dark purple bruises on his fragile body, all across his chest and stomach and the were a lot of scrapes and cuts on the blondes back; it made Roy physically wince to see so many bruises on someone so small and young "Its okay Ed, it'll be over soon I promise" He said soothingly as tears began falling from the blonde's, face. The dark haired man took his time being careful with every wound he encountered and bandaged the blonde up tenderly. In the end Roy had to bandage up half of the blonde's torso he had that many injuries and the dark haired man was seriously worried; surly the blonde couldn't have gotten all of these wounds from that man; some of them looked days old while others were fresh and still bleeding a little. "Ed…who was that man that was hurting you?" he asked gently as he wrapped the warm blue blanket around the blonde so he didn't get cold without his ragged clothing. Ed bit his bottom lip and even more tears welled up in those big golden eyes, the blonde small shoulders began shaking violently "H…he…was…m-my dad…" The blonde croaked out.

The dark haired man's eyes widened in surprise at this, as he wiped his thumb over the chilled plump cheeks, wiping the tears away gently. "Has he hurt you often?" Roy asked, he needed to know in order to help the kid, the blonde just nodded numbly "H-He does I-it all the t-time…e-ever since…momma died…" Ed whispered brokenly, before covering his bruised face in his hands and bursting out into tears. Roy Mustang felt his heart go out to this child; he'd been taking beatings off his father since his mother died, it was no wonder the amount of injuries the small child had on him. Gently Roy pulled the blonde to his chest mindful of the smaller ones injuries and hugged the child, while stroking his hair and rubbing his cat ears gently, trying to sooth the sobbing child in his arms. "It's okay Ed, your going to be okay now" Roy murmured really not knowing if it would; this child needed to be taken away from his father and put somewhere safe in a foster home for a while until a nice family adopted the poor child. The dark haired teen, was really tempted to ask the kid a bit more about his background and most importantly about his father, but he figured the golden haired child had been through more than enough for one day.

Roy let Edward sob on his shoulder for what seemed like hours, when the blonde child finally calmed down he didn't pull away, in fact he just continued to cling onto the dark haired mans shirt tighter and buried his head in Roy's chest, clearly indicating he didn't want to be moved from the older man's lap any time soon. The dark haired teen sighed, and took the t-shirt that he'd gotten for the blonde to wear "Here put this on and you can go to sleep okay?" Roy said to Edward who peeked up at him, his eyes puffy and red before he nodded and he reluctantly pulled away from Roy enough and slowly got moved his aching arms so the T-shirt slipped over his head easily.

The t-shirt was far too large for the blonde child; the t shirt itself reached down to child's shins, the sleeve's were down to Ed's elbows, and it was hanging off on shoulder lopsidedly, Roy chuckled and again found himself thinking the blonde looked absolutely adorable. Ed stared up at him and scowled at him when he heard the older man laugh, but it just made the blonde look cuter instead of the effect Edward wanted.

Roy smiled and wrapped Ed in the blue blanket "Come on its way past both our bedtimes" Roy said with a slight yawn as he stood up, the young child once again in his arms, as he left the first aid kit and the and the half empty mug on the table deciding to clean it up tomorrow, quickly Roy turned off the lamp which made the blonde squeak a little and he felt Ed's face buried in his neck; the kid was obviously scared of the dark. "It's aright Ed I'm here" Roy murmured as he carried the child upstairs. Gently he placed the small child in the spare bedroom and tried to put him on the bed but the blonde neko mewled in protest and clung onto to him refusing to be moved from Roy for even a second. The dark haired teen sighed "Come on Edward you have to let go of me so you can get some sleep…nothings going to hurt you while I'm here okay?"

Slowly the child nodded and let go of the older man reluctantly and Roy tucked him into bed, he would have taken away the blanket that he'd put around the blonde But Ed was burying his face into to that like he'd done with his military jacket. Roy sat on the edge of the bed and the blonde peeped up at him expectantly "Its okay I'm just going to stay here for a while so go to sleep" Roy murmured as he absently raked a hand through the small boys silky blonde hair. Comforted that this man would be watching over him, the golden eyes child slowly closed his eyes and drifted of to sleep. Once he knew Edward was fast asleep Roy walked across to his room and stripped before slipping into his own bed, more than ready to crash and not wake up at all.

But his mind was racing a mile a minute about what else could have happened to this child, this innocent child who had probably done no wrong to anybody. The dark haired man felt his heart clench again as he remembered all the wounds scattered on the small blonde's body and he felt his fists tighten in anger. He didn't understand how Edward's own father could try and hurt someone that innocent and Roy felt like he had to do something, he was going to make sure that Edward would never get hurt again, the kid didn't deserve the life he'd been having, he needed someone to take care of him, who'd play with him and keep him fro harm, and just make the kid happy, someone like…him.

Roy blinked and broke off his thoughts eyes widened at his own thoughts; he was becoming attached to this child, he'd only met him for an hour and already Roy was attached to the cute little thing. The dark haired man groaned at this realization; The dark haired man found it strange as he'd never gotten attached to anything or anyone before, not even his own family then suddenly this poor child turns up and the father in Roy comes out? The teenage alchemist frowned at this; no, that was partly the answer but there was more to it than that, he didn't know what it was yet be he was determined to find out soon. With a tired sigh Roy closed his eyes and tried to sleep as the rain out side began to pour down heavily and thunder rumbled in the sky.

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_The room was dark, very dark, the only lighting coming from the pale glow of the moon shining through the curtain-less window, because of the light Edward could sees his shadow, his daddy's shadow. His daddy was drinking the foul smelling stuff again, and he was yelling loudly at him again, which made his ears hurt, then he was hitting him, which made his body hurt, then his daddy began accusing him of things Edward didn't even understand. The blonde child was confused and in a lot of pain, he didn't know what daddy was so mad at him for, he thought that he hadn't done anything wrong, Ed thought he'd tried really hard so that he was a good boy just like he'd promised to be, but he must have been bad, he must have done something wrong, or something really bad to deserve this punishment. _

"_Worthless! Stupid! Weak! That all you are! The man hissed after each punch on the blonde's fragile body, then his daddy yanked the blonde up from his place huddled in a corner of the groom and dangled Ed in front of him, holding the little boy up by the young boy's collar not caring if he was half chocking the blonde or not. "You're nothing! You're a bad boy! You made her go away, you made Trisha die!" The blonde's golden eyes widened in shock and fear at this piece of news, his young mind not being able to realize that his drunk father was throwing false accusations around in his drunk state "M-My fault? For M-Momma…" Ed whispered tears falling from his eyes. _

_His father just dropped the blonde harshly on the hardwood floor and took another gulp of vodka straight from the bottle as he stared out of the window, as Ed tried to weakly scramble away form his father's rage "That's right, it's your entire fault! If you hadn't been born, then Trisha would probably still be alive, your nothing compared to her! You worthless little shit!" The man screamed before throwing the almost empty vodka bottle at Edward, as it struck his head hard, then the little blonde boy blacked out and saw and heard no more._

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Edward woke up with a mewl of fright and scrambled blindly out of the bed and hid underneath it shaking with fear; his daddy, his daddy was going to come! His daddy would come get him and then he was going to hurt him because Ed was bad, because he hadn't come home… The blonde blinked and remembered that he wasn't at home right now and was in fact, in that stranger's house. "Roy…" The blonde whispered, as lighting crashed outside and rind splattered against the window pain. The loud noise startled the blonde, which made Ed curl up into a tight ball in fear, his cat ears pressed flat to his head; he hated the lightning, he'd always been scared of it. Edward was scared and alone and he really didn't want to be "Roy…" Ed mewled out again hoping the dark haired man might hear him, but even the golden eyed little boy knew that Roy wouldn't be able to hear him over sound of the storm outside

Gathering what little courage the blonde had left, Edward quickly crawled out from under the bed and hurried over to the door, he had to struggle a little to open the door because he was so small and he'd jump every time he heard thunder, but eventually he managed to get it open. Once the door was open he was greeted by a dark hallway and Ed shivered in fear, trying to convince himself that nothing was going to hurt him; he was tired and wanted to sleep, but he wanted to feel comfortable first and Roy's smell, his scent was comforting to Ed; the blonde child didn't know why he liked it so much but he wanted to smell it again.

Ed sniffed the sir for Roy's scent and caught it, he quickly followed the scent to the door across the hallway from him and once again managed to open the door quietly, and Edward peeked in and saw the large bed and a lump of something on it, which from the smell was Roy fast asleep. Timidly, the young blonde neko tiptoed into the room his ear's twitching nervously at the slightest of sounds, not wanting to wake the other male up; this man has already done so much for him, he didn't want to disturb his sleep too.

Ed climbed onto the bed with a lot if difficulty but eventually he managed it quietly he crawled over to the dark haired teen and watched him sleep; his face was very peaceful when he slept his hair was everywhere and he looked so relaxed. Ed wished he could see Roy's eyes, he didn't know why but he liked Roy's eyes. Ed sighed and quickly got under the covers and lying next to the older men; the whole bed smelt of Roy and smiled, as he buried his face into one of Roy's pillows, feeling relaxed and content already. Slowly Ed drifted of into a dreamless sleep feeling a sense of contentment and happiness.

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The next morning Roy's internal clock indicated that it was time for him to wake up. Roy sighed quietly not wanting to move at all; he still felt tired and he just wanted to go back to sleep and bury his head in the silky hear that smelled faintly of lemons. Roy's eyes snapped open at this 'Wait a minute when did I take someone to bed with me?" Roy thought in a panic; The dark haired teen was notorious for being a major flirt with the ladies, but he had never actually slept with most of them despite the rumours, in fact only a select few that could hold his attention long enough got that privilege.

It took the dark haired alchemist a few seconds to realize that it wasn't a women in bed with him at all but in fact a certain small male someone. Roy pulled down the covers and saw Edward fast asleep, his head under the dark haired man's chin, his blonde hair scattered everywhere and he was curled up cutely Ed nose buried in Roy's chest, the blonde's tail occasionally flicking out and brushing against Roy's stomach. The dark haired teen almost melted at the cute sight and gently raked a hand through the blonde's hair. The action caused Ed to stir and he opened his bright golden eyes sleepily and moved his head a little so he could look at Roy who couldn't help but smile. "Good morning Edward" Roy murmured sleepily, his hand still in the small boy's golden hair.

The blonde blinked at him and did something that Roy had never seen him do before; he smiled at Roy, it wasn't a big smile at all, it was a small shy one, but it was better then nothing at all and it made the teen feel happy that Ed was opening up to him a bit more "Morning Roy-Sama" Edward said and the dark haired alchemist blinked at the boy; he seemed a lot happier today and his greeting this morning was one of the longest sentence's he'd ever heard from the child. Suddenly the blonde let his head drop on Roy chest and Ed snuggled up to the dark haired man and closed his eyes "Still sleepy" Edward mumbled, the dark haired teen smiled, his eyes softening as he stared fondly at the half asleep boy, Roy glanced at his clock; it was 6am, usually he tried to make sure he was in work before everyone else, but today…well today he was tired and so was the kid, work, finding out more about the blonde and why he'd snuck into Roy's room, could wait for another hour at least. With a tired sigh Roy continued stroking the blonde's hair gently as he closed his eyes and he two drifted off to sleep together.

Little did they know that neither would awaken until the late afternoon.

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So what did you think? Loved it? hated it? Either way I'd love to know because I worked really hard on this fic, it took me a whole day non-stop to finish and I feel pretty proud of it. I'll promise to update soon!

Jade Rotaski Queen of the Damned


	2. Explanations

Okay I want to say something; a lot of people seemed to be confused about the whole 'Ed being a cat' thing; I got the idea off an anime called loveless, where everyone is born with cat ears and a tail until they lose there virginity. In MY story, the same idea applies so even Roy had cat ears and a tail but, lost them when he lost his virginity at some point in his teens. Now I have that cleared up, I'm very happy from all 25 of the enthusiastic responses I received from people and I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as the last one! Please don't forget to read and review!

Jade xx

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Chapter 2- Explanations

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"Ring…Ring…Ring" Roy Mustang groaned at the annoying high pitched sound that was disturbing his blissful sleep, with a sighed the dark haired teen blindly turned and reached out for the phone, missing it completely the first couple of times before he finally picked up the receiver of the phone and pressed it to his ear. "Hello, this is Mustang" He muttered groggily still half asleep, he opened his eyes blearily and looked down in his bed to find Ed still fast asleep and curled up next to him, one thumb stuck cutely in his mouth and snoring peacefully, his tail curled around his small body gently, and once again Roy couldn't help a fond little smile creep up on his lips.

That peaceful scene, however was shattered as a certain Lieutenant yelled at him though the phone "Do you know what time it is? You should have been at work 5 hours ago!" Roy's eyes snapped over to the clock on his bedside table and his jaw dropped; it was almost 2pm! "Ah crap" Roy hissed as he scrambled out of bed and ran to his wardrobe carrying the phone with him as he went "I'm really sorry Hawkeye but something happened last night and I didn't get to sleep until the early hours this morning" Roy muttered trying to apologize "I'll be at work in 20 minutes and I'll explain more when I get there" Roy said hoping to god Riza wouldn't shoot him; the blonde women had a very good aim and he did not want to be used as a brand new target for her to practise on. The blonde Lieutenant on the other line gave a heavy a sigh down the phone before she spoke "Fine but you'd better have a very good reason Lieutenant Mustang or you'll be personally meeting the little friend that I have strapped to my hip" Roy shivered in fear; The dark haired alchemist wasn't afraid of a lot of things, but Riza Hawkeye was someone to be feared by everyone.

Ed by this point had woken up after finding his source of warmth gone and sat up groggily while rubbing his golden eyes to get rid of his sleepiness and blinked when he noticed Roy scrambling around. The young child cocked his head to one side in curiosity as the man finally dressed and rushed into the bathroom only to come out two minutes later face washed teeth brushed and his hair combed into something manageable. Edward just watched the man for a while his head cocked to one side in curiosity, then his stomach rumbled which reminded him he hadn't eaten anything for a long time, slowly the little blonde crawled out of the bed and walked over to Roy who was gathering some papers for work and bit his lip; he was hungry but he was almost afraid to ask, whenever he asked his daddy for food he'd get hurt. The blonde child gathered his courage trying to convince himself that Roy wasn't like his daddy and tugged on his uniform pants shyly. Roy spun around startled and looked down at Ed, and realized he'd almost forgotten about the blonde child and sighed; he had no idea what to do with him, and not only that his cloths were still dirty "What is it Ed?" He asked kneeling down to the blonde, the file left forgotten for the moment on his office desk. The small neko blinked and blushed slightly under Roy's warm gaze, but he smiled a little to as he answered "Um…I-I'm hungry…" Ed muttered the cute blush on his face deepened on the blonde's face as he awaited a reaction from the older man.

Roy smiled in amusement at Ed and ruffled his hair gently; for a child abused like Ed had been it must have taken a lot of courage for him to ask for anything and even though Ed seemed to be getting more comfortable around him, he knew Ed was still a little suspicious of everything and everyone, it was probably the way he tried to protect himself from being hurt again. Roy smiled and didn't hesitate to pick the healing blonde up off the floor and into his arms as the older man's stomach rumbled loudly, reminding the dark haired man that Ed wasn't the only one who was hungry, which in turn made Ed giggle cutely, only for him to stop instantly worried about weather it was wrong or not. Roy just chuckled back and ruffled Ed's hair again "It's okay you can laugh Ed" he said as he walked out of his bedroom with the blonde child "And it seems I'm hungry too, so we'd better get something to eat, I'm already late for work as it is so I doubt Hawkeye will care if I'm even later…what do you want to eat?" he asked wondering if the blonde would say.

Ed's eyes widened at this question, his big golden eyes staring at the teenager expectantly and swallowed; no one had ever asked him what he wanted to eat or drink before, usually his father would shove a bowl of soggy cereal with no milk in it at him and made sure he ate it all. "Um…ano…d-do you have pancakes?" Ed murmured quietly, his small hands clinging to Roy's jacket tightly; it wasn't as though he didn't trust the dark haired alchemist, he was just unused to being treated so nicely by someone, he was still unsure of what was right and wrong in this person's house. Roy smiled "Pancakes huh? Good idea, do you want to help me make them?" He asked just as Ed's large eyes lit up happily. "R-Really?" Roy just nodded as they walked into the kitchen and Roy set the blonde down and took of his military jacket and put on an apron, not wanting to spill pancake mix on his uniform. Roy got out the mix and pulled out some milk, which made Ed screw up his nose cutely in disgust just looking at the pale bottle. Roy noticed this disgusted look and wondered why Ed looked so appalled at him; he then noticed that the boys look wasn't directed at him but at the milk bottle in his hands. The dark haired alchemist blinked a little surprised "What's wrong, don't you like milk?" He asked finding it unusual, seen as almost all cats loved milk; it was extremely unusual for a growing neko-boy like Edward to hate it.

Ed nodded his small head rapidly and made scrunched up his cute face into one of disgust and grimace, temporarily forgetting where he was for a moment as he began to speak "It's gross" He said the disgust clear in his voice "It tastes horrid and sour, I don't like it, never had" Ed said before he stopped speaking and lowered his head to the floor as he twisted a part of the t-shirt he still wore nervously. The dark haired alchemist sighed and was thoughtful for a moment before he spoke "Well I guess we'll just have to make the pancakes with water instead then" Roy said putting the milk back into the fridge. The blonde neko blinked confused his golden cat ears twitching nervously, as the blonde bit his lip; why wasn't Roy mad at him? He knew he'd said something bad so why wasn't Roy punishing him? Was it a trick? the dark haired alchemist turned and saw the tears welling up in the blondes eyes and knelt down next to him, "Ed what's wrong?" he asked concerned; had he said something that upset the boy?

Ed's bottom lip trembled before he hugged Roy around the middle "I'm sorry please don't hurt me!" Ed wailed in such a broken voice that it felt to the dark haired alchemist like someone had punched him hard in the gut as the blonde child sobbed into his stomach. The dark haired teen swallowed thickly as a burst of emotions, all coming and going at once as he gently picked the blonde up in his arms and hugged him "Ed…Edward look at me" Roy whispered gently as he stroked Ed's hair soothingly so as to get the blonde to stop crying. The small neko looked up at Roy tearfully, his eyes already becoming red and puffy; the dark haired man felt his heart clench in sympathy yet again as he looked down at the tearful blonde "Edward I would never hurt you okay? It's not wrong to tell me what you like and don't like or tell me what you think, I'm not going to hurt you or yell at you for such silly things" Ed blinked at this as Roy wiped away a few stray tears that had fallen with his thumb and Roy kissed the boy gently on the forehead "Now cheer up, we'll make pancakes and then we'll have to find you something to wear, and then you'll have to come to work with me, okay?" Ed nodded happily glad Roy wasn't mad, his stomach had gone all funny when Roy kissed his forehead like that, but his childish mind didn't care what the feeling was, he didn't care as long as it made him happy, Roy made him happy and in his childish world nothing else mattered.

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Riza Hawkeye frowned as she glanced up at the clock on the wall of office room 22B for the fifth time that afternoon, her hand twitching to reach for the phone on her desk and call up Roy again; It was almost 3:00pm, an hour after she had rung the dark haired lieutenant up. Riza was just about to phone Roy again and really give him a piece of her mind, when she heard the familiar sound of a certain someone's footsteps. The blonde lieutenant pulled out her gun a scary scowl on her face, more than ready to give her fellow officer more and a few warning shots to his head, when he opened the door and she noticed the blonde child in Roy's arms.

For the first time in her young life, 18 year old Riza Hawkeye lowered her gun in shock at the cute little child in Roy's arms and gaped, her jaw dropping and her red eyes wide in surprise; the child in question had buried its cute blonde head in the dark haired alchemist's shirt, shying away from all the shocked and gaping stares in the office. The little child was wearing a pair of black pants and a white t-shirt; he also wore a black jacket which covered his bruised arms effectively. "Hey Roy, is that your love child?" He heard Havoc say teasingly, the dark haired alchemist shot the sergeant a withering glare which would have made Satan himself wince and shrink back from, so it was no surprise that Havoc hid under his desk away from the burning glare. Feury who had been unable to stop himself from laughing at Havoc's comment also hid behind the desk, his black neko ears twitching nervously as he peeked up at the glaring man in fear; Roy mustang was someone to be feared when he was annoyed at you, or just annoyed period. With a heavy sigh Roy turned to Riza who was still gaping at Ed in surprise, her expression very similar to that of a goldfish. "I'm sorry I'm so late, it's a very long story and I promise I'll explain once we have a break" Roy murmured to her quietly, as he sat down at his desk with a pile of paper work the child sitting comfortably in his lap. Everyone noticed the blonde neko-boy was shy and forcefully turned themselves away from the Edward and Roy and got back down to work.

Ed kept his head buried shyly in Roy's chest his hands clinging to the dark haired teen's uniform jacket. Roy smiled fondly at the blonde and stroked his small head "Its okay Ed their not looking now, none of them are going to hurt you, these people are my friends" Roy whispered in the blonde's ear. Ed looked up at him and nodded, indicating he understood before he buried his head back in the dark haired lieutenant's jacket again and Roy smiled; the blonde neko-boy must be comfortable or maybe still a little shy, either way Roy didn't mind the small child in his lap as he continued to do paperwork, in fact it felt almost normal to the dark haired teen, but to the others in the office, this was the oddest thing they'd ever seen; Roy Mustang; the rising star of the military, the infamous womanizer of Central, was fathering a small unknown child on his lap, and he looked like he was enjoying it.

The world had just about ended for the office of 22B.

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When a break finally came around, Ed was fast asleep in his lap and Roy had managed to get quite a lot done in that time; while the others went off on their break to grab a coffee, Riza walked over to him obviously wanting an explanation now as to why the dark haired alchemist had brought an unknown child to work with him "Sir…Who is that, and where did you get him?" the blonde women asked; it was obvious that the child wasn't a relation of some kind, as Edward looked nothing like Roy. The dark haired lieutenant shifted the small child in his lap gently, and looked at her sadly, before he began to explain all of what had happened last night. "-I'll have to see Meas and see what he can do for him, but for now he's stuck with me, he won't even let me go" Roy whispered quietly as Edward slept on in his lap. The blonde haired woman's usual passive face softened a little and she gave the teen a small smile as she tenderly reached out and brushed a few strands of Ed's blonde hair from his chubby little face, making Ed twitch lightly but otherwise remained asleep. "Maybe he clings to you because you saved him" Riza said "Children are innocent little creatures, but they know when they are safe, he must feel safe with you to cling to you so much, and the fact he's opening up to you just proves that he trusts you, even if its just a little bit" The blonde said as Edward mumbled something unrecognizable under his breath at Riza's touch and one hand gripped onto Roy uniform loosely.

"Do you know how old he is? He doesn't look older then 6 or 7 to me" Riza whispered and the dark haired teen shrugged "I don't know anything other than his name, I would have asked him more last night but I think he'd had more then enough for one night you know?" the female Lieutenant nodded sympathetically and stood straight again "Very well sir, stay here with him, I'll get you a coffee" Riza said and Roy nodded gratefully; the last thing he wanted to do was to disturb the cute sleeping bundle in his lap. The dark haired alchemist sighed and continued to sign the papers; with Ed asleep and everyone gone there wasn't much else to do. After a few minutes the blonde child woke up and yawned widely, shifting slightly in Roy's lap so he was now facing the desk and Ed's small back was leaning on Roy's chest; now no one was in the office the blonde child took his time to look around the office with big awed eyes at the big piles of paperwork stacked up high upon each desk.

The dark haired man smiled in amusement at Ed and ruffled his hair as he finished signing some papers; then putting them aside; now the blonde was awake and relatively relaxed he figured now was the right time for him to ask the blonde child a little more about himself. "Ed i need to ask you a few things if you don't mind…how old are you really?" The blonde child blinked and looked up at Roy in confusion then he thought about it before he answered "8 I'm nearly 9 though" He said a hint of pride in his childish young voice and Roy's jaw dropped. This little child was almost 9 years old? He was a lot older then both he and Hawkeye had thought due to his small size. 'Must be from not drinking milk' the dark haired teen thought but kept it to himself as he continued with his questions. "Do…do you have any other family other than you're father?" Roy asked hoping he wasn't pushing the blonde too far but Edward merely shook his head at this question.

"Okay Edward one more thing, do you know your last name?" Edward blinked and looked up at Roy before he scrunched up his nose cutely while deep in thought then he nodded "Elric…I'm Edward Elric" the blonde said with a cute little smile .The dark haired alchemist chuckled and wrote down what Ed had told him on a scrap of paper then stuffed it into his pocket just as the others came back from their break. As soon as this happened the blonde child once again became shy of the others and buried his head in Roy's chest. By the time the dark haired Lieutenant had finished his paperwork, it was 6pm, and but Hawkeye had already left the office little over an hour ago and even though he could feel the blonde fidgeting a little in his lap Edward didn't complain once.

The dark haired teen sighed in relief as he finished the last paper on his desk "Done finally!" Roy muttered and Ed looked up at him curiously just as the little boy's stomach grumbled for the second time that day. Roy sighed as he stood up, he tried to set the small boy down but Ed squeaked in alarm and clung onto him so the dark haired alchemist let then blonde have what he wanted and with a nod to Hawkeye, carried Edward out of the office. "Hey you should have told me if you were hungry or bored" Roy told the small child gently "I wouldn't have minded you know" Ed blushed red once more and just nodded a little at this piece of information, indicating he understood. "I didn't want to disturb you, you looked busy" the blonde child mumbled as Roy walked out of Central head quarters. Roy laughed at Ed's answer and smiled "Trust me a distraction from all that paperwork would have been a blessing" Roy muttered and ed giggled again, which made a genuine little smile grace his lips as he walked down the street to a nearby restaurant that had a nice cosy feel to it "Come on let's get you something to eat in here…are you okay with that?" He asked, pausing at the door ay and looking at the small child. Ed looked at the almost empty restaurant then back at Roy and nodded "O-okay" he stammered a little nervous; the dark haired teen didn't know this but, this was the first time Edward had ever been taken out to eat at a restaurant.

The dark haired man walked inside the nice restaurant and walked over to an empty table "You'll have to let go of me so you can eat" Roy said gently before he attempted to unlatch Edward from his jacket. The blonde resisted a little but knew the older man was right and let go of Roy and sat on his chair scooting it as close to the dark haired teen as possible. The meal was a little uncomfortable at first but with the dark haired man encouraging him, Ed finally managed to relax in the restaurant and easily told the dark haired man what he wanted to eat.

The rest of the meal was spent in a comfortable silence, though he could tell Ed was still a little weary of the environment of the restaurant and the people in it, the blonde child obviously felt safe enough to relax as long as Mustang was there with him. Once they had eaten and Roy had paid, they left the restaurant full and content, and the dark haired man had finally convinced Ed to try walking on his own to which the blonde found he could now quite easily though sometimes Roy had to pick him up when the blonde slowed from his lack of energy, despite the fact he'd just eaten. The dark haired man walked with the child down an unfamiliar road and down the street to a row of unfamiliar houses. Roy paused at the middle one with the walls painted white and a nice little garden Ed froze, unsure and a little afraid. The dark haired man looked down and noticed the child's scared look, so he squeezed Ed's hand gently in reassurance that everything was going to be okay "Its alright, this is my friends house, his called Meas and has a daughter who's a couple of years younger then you, he's going to help you okay?" Edward nodded, trusting the dark haired man and he relaxed as they walked down the gravel path and Roy knocked on the door.

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24 year old Meas Hughes was not a man that could be easily surprised; despite his goofy and laid back appearance the man was extremely aware and perceptive of everything and anything around him, while using his goofy doting father act to let other peoples guards down, hence why he was one of the best in the investigations department; there was very little Hughes would miss out on or not see before anyone else. But when his best friend Roy Mustang knocked on his door holding a small child's hand, Hughes wondered if his perceptive skills were going rusty because he and NEVER expected in a million years that Roy would have a child despite all the times he'd told his younger friend to go out and search for a wife, only for the dark haired man to either snort at him in disbelief, growl in annoyance, or when he was really annoyed, just raise a gloved hand as he silently threatened to snap his fingers and burn his best friend to a crisp.

"Wha-Oh my god when did you have such a cute child!" Hughes half squealed half exclaimed in excitement as he peered down at the cute little boy who was now peeking at Hughes from behind Roy's leg shyly. The dark haired man blushed a little at his best fiends statement and sweat dropped "It's not like that Meas, I need your help, can we come in?" Hughes just grinned like a loon and let them in Ed looking around the nice house, his big golden eyes grew bigger in awe as he took in the warm atmosphere of the house and the cosy furniture. "Who is it Meas?" a gentle voice asked from the kitchen and out came a pretty looking women, her light hair was cut short and framed her in a pretty style, her eyes where very kind and warming as she smiled and greeted Roy warmly then looked down at the small blonde child "Oh and who is this cute little thing?" She said as she knelt down and smiled kindly at Edward.

The blonde child started at Gracia and instantly took a liking to her as the woman held out her hand for Edward to shake and the blonde took it; this women's aura, her kindness, smile and warmth, they all reminded him a little of his own mother who passed away so long ago. "M-My name is E-Edward, Edward Elric" The blonde spoke stuttering only a little and answering before Roy could. The dark haired man looked down at the small kid in awe; the blonde was slowly beginning to trust people around him, it would take a while but slowly and surly it was happening. Gracia smiled and ruffled Ed's hair gently "Aww you're so sweet, would you like something to drink?" She asked, Ed said he would and settled for lemonade, while the two men said they would have coffee.

Ed, after getting the dark haired teen's silent nod of permission, went into the kitchen with Gracia while the two men sat down in the living room. "So…" Hughes said, not quite sure what to say for a moment, Roy sighed knowing what was going to come out of his best friends mouth, and so he held up a hand to stop Hughes before he started "Before you ask, no he's not my secret love child, nor is he any relation to me, I found him being beaten up by someone who I later found out was his father" Roy managed to cut in before the spectacled man could ask or shoot out a sarcastic remark "But now I don't know what to do Hughes, I can't legally look after this child without your help" Meas Hughes blinked in surprise then a big goofy grin spread upon his face "Wait a second are you telling me that you want to adopt this kid?" The dark haired alchemist blinked startled and rewound his last sentence before realizing what he'd said. Did he really want to keep this kid? His brain said it would be a bad idea; Not only was he still young, hell he was barely an adult himself, Roy had practically no idea how to raise a child! But his heart told him that he cared about this child's welfare and wanted to see him grow up, he wanted to see the little boy grow into a man.

With a sigh Roy nodded reluctantly "He's only stayed with me for a day and I've grown attached to him, but in order to keep him I need help and lots of it" Hughes nodded at this and rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a while before he answered "Well Roy, I'm not gonna lie to you, if your going to adopt Edward your going to be in for a very long haul, first off we need to convict his father of child abuse, second we need to get the papers for adoption sorted out and thirdly you need to put that kid in a school and fast before he gets behind on everyone else his age" Roy nodded at this as Hughes pulled a small pad and pen from the drawer next to the sofa.

"So the kids name is Elric huh?" He asked as he wrote that down "Well luckily for us, that's a pretty uncommon name, so his father shouldn't be too hard to find, especially if his still in Central" the dark haired teen nodded at this glad once again that Meas Hughes was his best friend and not his worst enemy; if anyone could find Edwards father, Meas could and pretty damn easily. "Alright secondly, adoption, Roy because your male, young and single a hell of a lot of extra tape is going to be involved during the adoption process, call the system sexist if you like but if you were with a women you'd have a hell of a lot less hassle and there will be times where Ed will have to be sent to a foster home, this probably going to be really hard for the kid because he seems really attached to you, but the state wont allow Ed to stay with you and if he does, someone from the adoption committee will be watching you" Roy grimaced at the thought of some old bag watching his every move in his own house but he nodded, agreeing to it anyway.

Hughes smiled at his friend agreeing to this so easily; Hughes had known Roy since they were children and he had never seen his best friend act like this "Damn Roy you've really got attached to this kid haven't' you? It's not like you, usually it's the other way around and people get attached to you" the dark haired teen chuckled at little at this and nodded. "I know its strange isn't it, I've never been interested in getting a girlfriends or a wife or having kids, but suddenly Edward comes along and well…things have changed." Hughes stared at Roy and chuckled before leaning over and petting his friend good naturedly on the shoulder "Maybe this is a good thing! Maybe now you'll settle down and get a wife for that kid once all the adoption crap has been sorted out" Hughes said to which Roy just groaned and gave his best friend a scathing look.

Just then Gracia and Edward walked in the room, the pretty women carrying a small tray with three cups on it and Edward carrying his own drink, the blonde seemed to be comfortable enough and seemed even more relaxed when, with begging eyes he silently demanded Roy pick him up and set him on the older mans lap. The dark haired man complied with Ed's silent request and the little boy happily drank his lemonade comfortably, not interested in the conversation around him or worried how his life was going to change dramatically in the near future.

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When they finally left Hughes house it was almost 10pm and Edward had fallen fast asleep in Roy's lap his empty cup of lemonade had been clutched loosely in the little blonde's chubby hands, Gracia smiled at the cute image and gently took the cup "It's a pity that Elysia was sleeping over at a friends house today, she would have loved to meet him, he's such a sweet little boy" the kind women said as she gathered up all the cups and set them back on the try before walking out the room and into the kitchen while Roy and Hughes walked to the front door. "I'll give an old friend of mine a call, she's a lawyer but she specializes in unusual adoptions like yours ill get her to ring you and hopefully we can sort everything out fairly quickly" The dark haired man nodded the blonde was still asleep but Roy had shifted the blonde so that Edward's small head was resting on his shoulder and one of the blondes arms was wrapped limply around the dark haired teens neck.

"You really love that kid don't you? And don't deny it, its obvious, hell your trying to adopt him for Christ's sake" Hughes mutters with a gentle smile "Look after him Roy, after all the crap you said he's been through…I think he needs someone like you" The dark haired man just nodded silently in agreement as he walked down Hughes garden path and down the street "So do I Meas so do I…" Little did Roy know that Edward was wide awake and had heard every word of the conversation, upon hearing what the two adults had said; something inside Edward swelled and it made him feel good; he felt happy, warm and content. He was happy that he was with Roy and he wanted to stay with him forever.

Little did Edward know that things in life weren't that simple.

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Okay how was this for you all? (Sweatdrops) Um I hope you guys don't mind but I'll probably skip though the adoption process for the next chapter because its kind of boring and skip ahead to when Edwards about 10 or 11 years old and…well I wont spoil it for you Any way I hope you enjoyed more neko!Ed cuteness! Ja ne!

Jade xx


	3. Adoption and Alchemy

Hello! Yes I have finally gotten up off my lazy ass and updated! I'm so happy I got 30 reviews for the 2nd chapter; that's 5 more than I got for the first one, so thank you to everyone who reviewed, I really do appreciate all your lovely comments (Hands out Roy and Ed shaped cookies) :) I'm so glad people are enjoying this, there shall be more of neko!Ed's adorable-ness, and also in this chapter Edward's intelligence is mentioned too, can't forget he's a prodigy now can we? XD. Anyway enjoy this chapter! Ja ne!

Jade xx

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Chapter 3- Adoption and Alchemy

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21 year old Major Roy Mustang was nervous, he had never felt so nervous before, not even when addressing the Fuhrer himself as two middle aged women inspected his apartment from top to bottom scrutinizing every part of it to see weather it was fit for a child to live in; It had been two years since Roy had decided to adopt Edward and the process had been a slow and painful one; once Roy had contacted the adoption agencies about Edward the first thing they had done was take the small child from his house and put him under protective custody while the police and Hughes searched for his father. The blonde child had struggled to get away from these strangers that he didn't know, and screamed the dark haired man's name until his small throat was hoarse, he bit and clawed and struggled trying to stay with the dark haired man but there was nothing Roy could do but watch helplessly as they took Edward away.

In the two years that had passed, Roy's life had been a whirlwind of action. First off with the help of Hughes they managed to get Edward's father arrested for not only child abuse but drug dealing, and there was an overwhelming amount of evidence against him and was sent to jail for a minimum of 15 years. After that he'd met up with Hughes's friend who specialized in adoption, Maria Kane. The women was nice enough, and she understood Roy's eagerness to get the adoption process over with and through several meetings and discussions with her, and after his whole life had been put under a scrutinizing microscope, the application to adopt Edward got processed faster then normal.

Roy was more worried about how Edward was adjusting in an orphanage, and the results at the beginning had not been good ones; When Ed had first been taken away, he'd scream if one of the orphanages carers came near him and the blonde constantly called out for Roy, the small blonde would rarely eat and would not play with the other children either; he would just curl up in a corner of his room and cry, completely shielding himself away from everyone. When the dark haired man heard about this he demanded to be allowed to visit the blonde; If Edward was calling for him he would go and see the blonde, he wanted to help comfort Ed in this strange environment he was in.

At first the adoption agency had refused Roy access to see the blonde child, which just left the dark haired man annoyed and frustrated; Roy knew that Edward didn't understand what was going on, after being moved around so much and asked the same questions over and over again about his parents, about himself and about Roy, Edward was confused and lost and he wanted to be near the only thing that gave him comfort. The blonde was so shy and scared of these people that he'd just shiver in a corner and mewl out for the dark haired man. It had gotten so bad that Ed wasn't even eating or sleeping until the social workers allowed Roy to see the blonde; it was obvious that if this child was going to be normal, then they would have to allow Roy access to the small child. As soon as Ed caught sight of the dark haired man, the blonde virtually leapt off the floor with an energy none of the carers thought the blonde had, and into the older mans embrace crying and wailing about how he wanted to go home with Roy and about how he didn't want to stay with all these strange people anymore. It almost physically hurt the older man to tell Edward that he'd have to stay a while longer but he promised that no matter how long it took, the blonde would get to stay with him for good, The small child had nodded and buried his head in Roy's chest and inhaling the dark haired man's comforting scent, not ever wanting to let the older man go.

After that Ed's condition and behaviour slowly improved but he still refused to interact with other children; easily choosing to read a book to read over play fighting out in the orphanage's back yard. He also gained confidence in himself but only around the dark haired man, to strangers or people he didn't know he was polite yet shy, but once he's gotten to know them like he now knew Hughes and his family he became extremely attached to them.

Eventually after two years of fighting the courts, discussion and just plain stress the documents were finally signed and Edward was allowed to stay with Roy mustang as his adopted son, the only test now was to see whether his house was a safe enough environment for the 10 now almost 11 year old Edward Elric to stay in. After about an hour the two women came downstairs and gave the 21 year old a harsh look "You'd better look after him boy, lord knows that child's been through enough….we'll drop Edward off at your house as 9 am sharp tomorrow morning" with that the two women left without another word leaving Roy stunned but ecstatically happy.

Edward was coming home at last.

The dark haired man smiled widely with glee; it was just in time for Edward 11th birthday which was in a few weeks time; Hughes had managed to bring out Edward's birth records so he knew exactly when the blonde birthday was but upon the discovery of Ed's birthday he found out other things about the blonde's past too; His mother, Trisha Elric had given birth to Edward in the small remote town of Resambul, then had moved to Central, but eventually the Ill heath she had been hiding from her husband caught up with her when Edward was only four, and she died not long after she was diagnosed with tuberculosis; which is an infection caused by the bacterium (_Mycobacterium tuberculosis_), which most commonly affects the lungs, and of which there is no known cure, soon after the father lost his job and things went to rock bottom. Edward had been a happy bubbly child, but his behavior deteriorated after his mothers death, so much so that he wouldn't speak to, or trust anyone. Ed's old school teachers had thought it had been because of Trisha Elric's death but that, added onto his abusive father made Edward extremely withdrawn.

Things had gotten worse until the blonde child had met Roy and the rest, they say is history.

The dark haired man hummed happily as he made arrangements with Gracia and Hughes to host a birthday party for the blonde, which would be held in about three weeks after Ed arrived back at the dark haired mans home, he was sure that Ed would be delighted with the party seen as he had grown attached to Gracia and Elysia; when they had gone out to see the family when Roy was allowed to take the blonde child out. The blonde treated them like they were his own mother and little sister, and called Hughes his uncle, much to the spectacled mans annoyance; being called uncle made him feel old. The dark haired man smiled to himself as he looked at a small photo Hughes had given him last year; it was from the time he, Ed and the Hughes family had all gone out to a local fair in the summer and Roy had been allowed to take Edward out. The blonde had, had a whale of a time, a huge smile adorned his childish face, in the photo Hughes was hugging Gracia and Elysia was holding her fathers hand and smiling, Ed however, demanded Roy pick him up for the photo, and hand hugged the older man, his small arms around Roy's neck, and a happy grin on his face.

The dark haired man stared at the photo and smiled; He knew now that there would be a lot more happy memories for himself and the blonde. With a sigh Roy sat down on his sofa and closed his eyes tiredly, after two years of constant stress the 21 year old could finally relax.

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10 year old Edward looked around the orphanage playground and sighed; he felt all alone even among all the other kids, no body understood him at all only one person did and he was forced to be kept away from him. "Roy…" The small cat–boy mewled out to himself as his cat ears twitched a little, his long golden tail resting in his lap, the blonde's hand playing with the tip of it absently. He missed Roy; he missed him a lot, every night he'd cry himself to sleep because the older man wasn't here with him. The blonde child didn't understand why he felt this way, he just did and that was good enough for him, besides Roy had promised him that he could stay as his house for good one day and the blonde believed him; the small child had put all of his trust into the dark haired man, not once thinking that Roy would betray him or abandon him, he didn't know why after all the abuse he'd been thought that he trusted the dark haired man so much. 'Maybe its because of his eyes…or the way he smiles…or how happy he makes me feel whenever he's around' Ed thought as he looked up at the sun and the clear blue skies.

"Ed? Edward its time for dinner now" The blonde child looked up at the person calling him, it was one of the carers here in the orphanage, She had shoulder length brown hair and warm grey eyes and a gentle smile that could melt the hardest of hearts, she wore a simple white t-shirt and black pants and had a small name badge with Jade printed on it. The blonde looked up at her and remained silent before his gaze was fixed on the floor once more. The brunette women sighed before sitting next to the blonde "What is it Ed you feel lonely again? A lot of the children want to play with you, you know, I don't know why you wont go and play with them" The 10 year old shrugged and pawed at the soft ground with a bare foot absently; the truth was Ed had believed that Roy was going to take him away from this place that he figured making friends would be pointless; He didn't need friends, he needed Roy.

"I'm going to here leave soon…so it doesn't matter if I play with them or not, there's no point in making friends that I'll have to leave behind" Ed whispered and Jade smiled sadly; The blonde child was what most would call a prodigy, his IQ was higher than Grade A high school students, any knowledge Ed read or heard about he sucked up like some giant sponge, there was nothing you could teach the blonde that he wouldn't almost instantly understand. Jade sighed and took Ed's hand "Come on inside now before your dinner gets cold" She said gently tugging the small boy to his feet and leading him inside; The brunette girl smiled down sadly at the blonde; she knew that tonight was his last night in the orphanage before he was sent to live with his new adopted father, she would miss the small blonde, he was polite and hardly ever caused a fuss unless one of the older kids picked on him and called him small or he was asked to drink milk, he was also wise beyond his years and the young women had often found herself having in depth adult conversations over random things with the child, Edward was a sweet child but he always seemed so sad, yet the only time he seemed happy or showed any real signs of life, was when Roy mustang would call or visit, and those times Jade felt glad someone wanted to care for Edward.

The brunette women sighed as she watched the blonde eat by himself. Yes, she would miss Edward Elric dearly.

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Roy was awake first thing in the morning due to the fact he could hardly keep still for a minute let alone fall asleep, he'd already set up the blondes room across from his; he'd painted the walls a soft cream colour with dark blue curtain and a single bed with the back bored painted dark blue. The wardrobe and toy cabinets were empty but the large bookshelf that filled one side of the wall was filled head to toe with books of all kinds but quite a few were about the basics of alchemy straight from Roy's own library. The dark haired man continued to pace around his house restlessly until he heard the car screech to a halt outside his drive way Roy walked over to the door and opened it to see a pretty girl roughly the same age as him with brown hair and green eyes "Roy mustang? I'm Jade, one of Edward's caretakers in the orphanage, I've come to drop him off" She said as the door to the car was opened.

Roy's eyes widened as he started at Edward; He had grown a little since they had last met but he still looked as adorable as ever, his eyes shone brightly when she saw Roy and his hair was plaited into a thick braid that went past his shoulder blades. Before the dark haired man could stop the blonde, Edward ran and leapt onto the older man, hugging him tightly, and barely missing Jade who had managed to move out of the way from being knocked over by the speeding blonde. "Um well I'll leave you two to settle down if you have any problems you can call me, Ed has the number" Jade said with an amused look, as though she was trying very hard not to laugh, before she waved goodbye to Edward and left in the car. Edward meanwhile hadn't heard a word that the women had just said, instead he was mewling happily, inhaling the other mans scent like it was something he'd been starved of. "Missed you" Edward said in a cute childlike voice "You haven't changed" The blonde muttered as he started at Roy's face; to the blonde he looked the same, same dark hair same dark, yet warm eyes, same pale flawless skin.

Roy chuckled at the blondes comments and propped himself up off the floor by his elbows and smiled "Hmm neither have you your as still short as you were two years ago" Roy teased; he'd heard that Ed hated to be teased about his height but for some reason he tolerated it from the dark haired men. The blonde child scowled and tapped Roy's chest lightly before he pouted and got off the dark haired man, folding his arms across his small chest and huffed indignantly, while he continued to pout cutely. Roy chuckled and got up before easily scooping the 10 year old back into his arms "Come on, don't be like that you're home now…you want to see you're new room?" The blonde's eye lit up and he nodded smiling a little.

Roy took the blonde child upstairs and watched as Ed's eyes lit up in excitement at his new room, he went straight for the books on the book shelf and began rummaging through them as Roy watched the small child amused; the blonde may have been more intelligence and wise beyond his years but deep down he was still nothing more then a child with so many questions about the world. "I'll make lunch I'll call you when it's ready okay?" Roy said to Edward who nodded absently as he became absorbed in what the dark haired man could recognize at the 'Alchemy for beginners' hand book.

Roy made a simple chicken salad for the two of them and was surprised when Ed came downstairs without Roy having to call him and sat by the table the book he'd been reading tucked under his arm. "Um…you can do alchemy right?" The blonde child asked a bit nervously as Roy set down the food in front of him, the dark haired man frowned a little at this question before he nodded "Well I can do one type of alchemy, I specialize in fire alchemy…Why?" Roy asked one eyebrow rose in mild curiosity, the blonde blushed a little in embarrassment at his question "Well…um…c-could you teach me? Alchemy I mean, I've been reading about it and I want to be an alchemist"

Roy raised an eyebrow at this in surprise; even though he had put the alchemy books in Ed's room himself, it was merely so that Ed could read up on a wide range of subjects; he honestly hadn't expected the young blonde to actually want to learn alchemy properly. The dark haired man hummed a little in thought before he answered "Well…it all depends on what type of alchemy you want to study there are two types; Elemental alchemy and transmutational alchemy…do you know the difference?" Roy asked curiously; he knew the boy was smart and it would be interesting to see what the blonde said. The blonde just nodded "Elemental alchemy specifically focuses on the five main elements, earth, air, fire, water and lightning, Transmutation alchemy is the process if transmuting one substance into another by means of alchemy" Ed said as though he'd swallowed a whole textbook on the subject, The dark haired man chuckled in amusement "Well I can teach you the basics of alchemy, that's compulsory, no matter what type of alchemy you decide to study…but if you really want to learn I could call up my aunt who lives in Lior and she could teach you alchemy like she taught me"

Edward eyes lit up at this and he smiled "R-Really?" Roy chuckled and nodded "Yes her name is Izumi she's had students of alchemy from all over the world, I'm sure she'll be more than happy to teach you…that's if your sure you want to, learning alchemy won't be an easy task" Ed just nodded happily before tucking into the meal Roy had prepared for the two of them a comfortable silence in the air.

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After dinner the two had cleaned up together, and then Ed had gone upstairs to read the rest of the alchemy book, while the older man filled in some leftover paperwork that needed doing in the living room. About and hour later, Roy headed upstairs to the bathroom, when he noticed that the door to his bedroom was slightly ajar, peering inside he was half surprised, half amused to find the blonde child sprawled on his bed, the alchemy book he'd been reading resting on his stomach the book opened and resting on some random page, one of the blonds arms thrown over the top of the book. The dark haired man chuckled at the sight and continued on his way to the bathroom. Once he was finished he walked back into his room and gently slipped the book from the blonde's limp fingers, carefully he bookmarked the page, then scooped the blonde up into his arms and carried him into his new room, gently he stripped the blonde of his clothing feeling strangely uncomfortable as he did this; he wasn't sure why but he felt a little perverted doing this.

Shaking the weird feeling off as nothing more than nerves, he slipped the sleeping blonde into his bed and kissed the child's forehead. "Night Ed" Roy murmured with a smile as he quietly shut the door and went back downstairs to make a phone call. After three rings the phone was picked up "This better be important Roy" Izumi said down the phone sounding as though she wasn't in the best of moods right now. The dark haired man chuckled in amusement not threatened by her tone of voice at all; how she always knew it was him on the other side of the phone line he never knew "Oh I see, I just rang to have a friendly chat auntie" Roy said with a smirk as he heard his aunt huff in annoyance down the phone "Roy, you NEVER call for a friendly chat, so what do you want?" Roy chuckled; his aunt knew him too well. "Well its more of what my new adopted son wants, I told you I adopted a boy named Edward, a real genius…well he wants to learn alchemy and I was thinking that maybe you could teach him" Roy said. There was a slight pause on the other end of the line before Izumi sighed .

"A genius huh? Well why don't you just teach him, you're an alchemist too idiot." Izumi said sarcastically and Roy just smiled fondly at the sarcastic tone in her voice; His aunt despised state alchemists and had since her parents had died by the state when she was a child; technically should hate her own nephew, but Izumi, past her hard fists and sharp tongue, had a VERY soft spot for her family and loved Roy dearly, as long as she was exposed to him in liberal doses. "True, but who taught me alchemy in the first place? Come on auntie, you'll love this kid and he really wants to learn, he's already absorbed half the alchemy for beginners book and he's just moved into the house" There was a heavy sigh from the other end of the line "Alright I'll tell you what I'll come and visit you in two days time, teach Edward what you know about the basics of alchemy, if he really is the prodigy you say he is then he should have no problem answering my questions" Roy smiled at this and happily thanked her before hanging up and leaving to go back into his study and finish the paperwork before he neglected it again.

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"-Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving up something in return, to obtain, something of equal value must be lost, that's Equivalent exchange Alchemy's first law" Ed quoted as he sat nervously in front of Izumi Curtis, Roy's aunt, she seemed like a nice enough women and it was obvious that she and Roy were related they had the same coloured eyes and hair, but instead of warm, kind eyes like Roy's, her gaze was sharp and stern, and Ed felt nervous as she kept that hard gaze upon him, asking him all sorts of questions about alchemy, but the blonde was determined to impress her enough to be her student, he wanted to learn alchemy like Roy and maybe be a state alchemist like the dark haired man too, heck even work under he man. The blonde felt himself flushing cutely, and his stomach felt weird at that thought but he had no idea why he did so, but he pushed those thoughts aside for later and looked up at Izumi, who took a deep breath and sighed "Hmmm…well you have potential I'll give you that…" Izumi glanced at Roy who was silently giving her pleading eyes to say yes, before sighing "Alright I'll teach him" Ed's eyes lit up in excitement "R-Really?" He squeaked, his voice almost girly from excitement and happiness. The stern looking women nodded and smiled a little, her face and eyes softening before she looked at Roy "I'll stay in Central for two months, in those two months I'll teach your son all he needs to know to be an alchemist, the first lesson will start tomorrow, I'll come and see you at 12pm" Izumi said with a wink to her nephew, before she turned and left without another word.

Ed was frozen for a minute as Izumi's words sunk in and his grin if possible widened even more before he turned to Roy and launched himself at the older man, Roy expected this and caught the slim blonde as Ed hugged him happily. "Thank you Roy" Ed muttered into the dark haired mans shirt, the scent he loved so much was there and he inhaled it like a drug. The dark haired man chuckled and ruffled Ed's head "Your welcome, how about we go out to the movies and grab something to eat so as to celebrate?" The blonde nodded and grinned "Yeah! I wanna watch Pirates of the Caribbean!" Roy just laughed before he nodded "Pirates it is then, get your shoes on and lets go there's a screening in 45 minutes, should be plenty of time to grab something to eat on the way" Ed nodded as he slipped on his black boots and his bright red jacket with a strange emblem on the back; a snake entwined in a cross with two little wings and a crown at the top; something Roy had bought for him last year for Christmas, after the blonde had squealed like a little girl and clung onto the jacket like it was his newborn child, before he gave Roy pathetically cute neko eyes for him to buy it him for Christmas, the dark haired man hadn't been able to resist the look and had caved into buying the blonde what he wanted.

The two left the house and Roy drove them to a nearby restaurant and they took a corner table; Ed was still a little nervous about being around so many strangers, but he stubbornly refused to show it now that he'd grown older and gained a lot more confidence in himself; as long as Roy was around the blonde child felt safe. The two ate in a comfortable silence before Roy paid and they went to see the movie. Even though Roy had bought two seats at the theatre, Ed had decided to settle down in the older man's lap instead, and refused to move throughout the whole movie, not that Roy minded, it felt right that Ed was there in his lap and watching a movie with him, it didn't feel strange in the slightest, after all Ed was still a child and tended to cling to him a lot anyway so the dark haired man was used to it.

After the movie Ed was bouncing around happily as he began repeating certain parts of the movie and giggling to himself happily, Roy just smiled at the blonde child; after all that he had been through Edward was finally gaining his innocence back.

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The rest of the week ended up being a busy one for both Roy and Edward, Roy as a Major, was required to over see the state alchemist exams that were only performed twice a year not only was Roy busy with the assessments, he was trying to find a good school for the blonde to go to, even though Ed was adamant he wanted to be an alchemist Roy didn't want to hold the blonde back on his options in education, in case he decided to change his mind in the future. This however meant that he had to leave Ed with Izumi, who had already begun teaching Ed all she knew about alchemy, so the two hadn't been able to see each other as often as Ed or Roy would have liked. "Edward concentrate!" Izumi's voice rang out snapping Ed out of his day dream about Roy. The blonde flushed in embarrassment and mewled out an apology, his cat ear laying flat on his head. The dark haired women sighed exasperated; the child was intelligent, almost frighteningly so in fact, but for some reason the blonde would get distracted and start staring off into space. Izumi sat across from the 10 year old and sighed "Alright what's bothering you Edward, you've been distracted all day" The blonde's blush seemed to deepen and he played with the hem of his t-shirt nervously "Ano…Its nothing…I...I just miss Roy…" Ed stuttered out, hoping Izumi wasn't mad; Roy's aunt s was just damn scary when she was mad, and Roy had told him stories about when he trained under his aunt, not to scare him but to prepare him for what Izumi was like. The dark haired women's face softened a little and she sighed "I see, Ed you know he's just busy at the moment, no doubt he'd rather be with you as well but as it is you'll just have to wait…I know, if we finish this chapter today, we'll go and see him at Central headquarters" Izumi, as much as she didn't want to set food in Central HQ would do so if it made the kid concentrate. Izumi knew she's said the right words as the blonde's cute face lit up like a 100 watt bulb; instantly Ed nodded and got back on track with his work, The dark haired women smiled fondly at the blonde; the child was so attached to Roy, maybe a little _too_ attached; the blush Ed had given off hadn't gone unnoticed from her sharp eyes and she wondered just how much Ed felt for Roy 'Don't be stupid Izumi he's 10! He blushed because he was embarrassed at being caught not concentrating…' Izumi thought with a nod before she continued the blonde's lesson for the day.

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Roy was bored out of his mind as he watched the alchemy exams; so far not one person had exceeded the military's expectations, and frankly the dark haired man was beginning to get bored by seeing each person fail. "Hey! How's it going Roy?" Roy looked up to see Hughes, who had plopped into an empty chair next to him and frowned; Meas wasn't a state alchemist so technically he shouldn't have been here but Roy wasn't going to pass up the opportunity for a distraction; even seeing Elysia's photo's would have been better than this. "Terrible, no ones passed yet, I'm bored out my mind and I miss Ed, I just hope my aunt isn't scaring the crap out of him" Hughes chuckled a little in amusement as he sat next to Roy and patted his best friend on the back "Come on Roy, give your aunt some credit, besides you wouldn't have asked her to teach Edward alchemy if you didn't trust her" Roy sighed and propped his heads up on the table and sighed a dull bored expression on his face. "I know…I just miss him, we've both been too busy to actually spend any quality time with each other, and the way things are going its going to be like this next week too" Hughes smiled and patted his best friend on the shoulder in sympathy "Now you know how I feel when I have to leave Gracia and Elysia…speaking of Elysia…LOOK! I just got new photo's developed isn't she the cutest!"

Roy groaned and took back what he said before; maybe he did prefer watching the non-passing alchemists after all.

Luckily for Roy help was on its way in the form of one certain blonde neko who had just arrived with Izumi, as soon as the blonde caught sight of the dark haired man, Ed tackle glomped the older man with such force that Roy's chair toppled backwards taking Roy and Edward with it. A few alchemists who had come to watch the State exams turned at the loud clatter of the chair falling over and chuckled at the ridiculously cute scene in front of them; Ed was hugging Roy tightly and mewling happily while the dark haired Major looked quite dazed as though he wasn't quite sure what had hit him. He came back to his senses however when a camera flashed above them, the dark haired alchemist scowled at his best friend and glared daggers at the camera Hughes was holding in his hands "Hughes, you have three seconds to hand over that camera" Roy growled out; the last thing he needed was Hughes making multiple copies of that photo and spreading it around HQ; as cute as the picture probably was, Roy would never live it down.

Hughes just chuckled and slid away from his furious friend, knowing damned well Roy didn't have his gloves on therefore his threat was an empty one, not only that, but because he still had Edward clinging to him Roy couldn't get up in time to stop his childhood friend running off. Vowing to torch the man later, the dark haired alchemist got up of the floor while the blonde somehow still managed to cling to him. "Hello to you too Edward…have you finished Alchemy your lesson for today already?" Roy asked with a smile while glancing up at Izumi who smirked down at her nephew in amusement. "That's right but only because he wanted to see you early, tomorrow we'll be doing a full lesson you hear?" Izumi said to the blonde who grinned sheepishly and nodded. Roy chuckled and sat up, straightening his chair and settling back down in it once more with Ed in his lap. "Hmm sounds like me when I was you're age, I always wanted to get out of lessons early, never managed to though" Roy said with a wink to the blonde who blushed cutely and continued to hug Roy, his face buried in The older mans shirt once he realized a lot of people were staring at them. The older man chuckled in amusement at the alchemy exams wore on, but with the blonde child in his lap, things didn't seem as boring

In the end the three of them went home and Izumi cooked them both some dinner, before she retired to the hotel she was staying in for the night, reminding them both to get some rest like a mother hen before she left. Roy sighed to himself as he finished the delicious meal Izumi had made, looking over at Ed he was surprised and worried that Ed had hardly touched his food at all; usually the blonde would have seconds and thirds of everything but today he was just picking at it nervously. "Edward is something wrong?" Roy asked with a slight frown, Ed jumped a little in surprise and his face flushed in embarrassment before shrugging "Ano it's nothing…" The older man frowned and cupped the blonde chin with his hand and lifted the blondes head up so their eyes met and Ed flushed even more at those warm dark eyes staring at him intently, he really liked Roy's eyes…

"Talk to me Ed what's bothering you" Roy asked the blonde child blinked and shrugged biting his lip gently "Ano…I…I'm a little scared about school…" Ed said and Roy blinked before cursing himself for not realizing earlier; this would be the first time since Roy had adopted him that Ed would be all alone with a bunch of strangers at school without Roy or anyone Ed was familiar with being nearby, it was no wonder Ed was nervous. The dark haired man smiled "You'll be fine Ed the teachers will be there to help you if you have any problems okay?" The blonde nodded a little and smiled believing what Roy said.

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Edward, it seems found school to be boring for the first week, not because he wasn't interested in learning but because his intelligence demanded a much higher level of education and he was bumped up three grades so he was now mingling with 14 year olds and taking the same level of subjects. Edward was constantly teased about his height and the only way Edward could deal with it was by exploding in to fits of rage and yelling obscenities which usually started with "Who are you calling so small..." Other then the height jokes Edward found himself fitting in as he befriended another child prodigy who was in his class, his name was Russell Tringham; he had short cut blonde hair and dark eyes he was Edwards friend, but also his rival as they constantly tested each other intelligence, both striving to beat the other and gain the best marks in class. Ed also did well in his alchemy lessons and had learnt the basics of Alchemy in record time that even Izumi was impressed enough by his progress that she had already started him on learning transmutational alchemy. "Now Edward I don't want you trying to attempt alchemy by yourself just yet, it could backfire and have some pretty nasty consequences you hear me?" Edward nodded absently, not looking up from the thick book he was reading. Izumi sighed and rolled her eyes but decided not to disturb the blonde from his study.

It was a week later that Izumi had wished she had reminded the blond of her warning when using alchemy

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It had all started with Russell claiming that he was learning transmutational Alchemy and that he cloud perform it better than Edward ever could; the two had bickered constantly about it for days on end until the two blonde children challenged each other to transmute something, it didn't matter what, and the best transmuted item would win. They both decided to do it behind their school at lunchtime where no one would bother them and when everyone would be inside eating lunch and they could perform the alchemy in relative peace.

Edward had been first to go and swallowed nervously; he had never physically attempted Alchemy before only studied the many theories, he knew that his teacher would get mad at him if she found out, but if things went to plan, then she'd never know…right? Swallowing thickly out of nervousness and excitement, Ed placed all the needed materials onto the freshly drawn transmutation circle and mentally prayed that things would be alright as he placed his hands on the transmutation circle and activated it as Russell watched curiously. At first the circle glowed in a bright golden light and the materials he had set in the centre began to move around and morph into a shape.

Suddenly the colour of the light changed to a dark red and shimmering purple and Ed knew in his gut something was wrong, then his eyes widened as he noticed the materials were morphing out of control and looked ready to explode. Ed covered his body with on leg and his face with one hand just in time, as the materials in the transmutation circle exploded. The blondes screams echoed in the air and throughout the back yard of the school as he was pelted with sharp bits of the materials he'd tried to transmute. Russell ran up to Ed worried about his friend and rival and gaped at what his saw; Long needle like shards of the materials Ed had tried to transmute were embedded deeply into Edwards left arm and right leg, the blondes face and neck was covered in scratches but otherwise he was unharmed "R-Russell, g-get my Roy" Edward whimpered, in obvious pain, the cuts on his body were bleeding pretty heavily, The other blonde just nodded his eyes wide and ran off to Central HQ where He knew Ed's dad worked.

Roy had been talking with Riza, the two of them on their way to lunch when Russell Tringham found Roy and told the dark haired man what had happened, after the young blonde had explained everything, Roy had wasted no time in getting thee blonde boy into his car and racing to get to his adopted son's school and around the back of the school without being seen, to where Ed was lying on the ground bleeding heavily and whimpering in pain. Roy's eyes widened in shock at the sight of the blonde "My god Edward!" He exclaimed as he knelt down next to the pained child. Edward whimpered in agony and tried to cling onto Roy, but he was in far too much pain and the needle like points stuck in his arm and leg made trying to hug the older man difficult. The dark haired man's jaw dropped as he looked at the transmutation circle and recognized it; he frowned knowing he'd have to give Edward a serious talk later, but for now he had to get the blonde to the nearest hospital and fast. Gently, Roy picked up the whimpering, neko boy and placed him in the back of his car before telling Russell to inform Ed's teachers he wouldn't be coming back to school for a while, before getting in the car and driving at full speed to the hospital, while praying the blonde would be alright….

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Yosh! I finally updated! I would have done so earlier but I got backtracked watching One piece (Grins sheepishly) I hope you enjoy this update, its one of the longest ones I've written so far! I wrote almost 12 pages! To anyone wondering (And I know people have asked me this) Yes, Al will be in the next chapter, along with Winry and yes Ed will get automail and…well you'll find out in the next chapter won't you XD Don't forget to read and review or I won't update!

Until next time peeps!

Jade xx


	4. Amputation

Hello all I'm back at lest with chapter 4! I know you guys have been waiting a very long time for this and I can't apologize enough for the delay, so I hope that you enjoy this and Read and review!

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Chapter 4- Amputation

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Roy was panicking.

On the outside, the raven haired man looked perfectly calm, his face was blank, no emotions on his face, his dark eyes were fixed on the road ahead, but inwardly he was panicking, his mind was franticly racing, imagining what could happen once this incident got out; would the adoption agency label him unfit to take care of Edward? Would they come and take away the golden-eyed child he felt so much for? And his Aunt Izumi, what was she going to say once she found out? The dark haired man shivered a little in fear not for himself, but for Edward. Roy forcefully tried to push any thoughts about his scary, intimidating aunt to the back of his mind as he drove to Central Cities Main hospital as fast as he could while the injured blonde whimpered faintly next to him in the passenger seat.

Edward was in terribly agonizing pain; the needle like shards that were buried deeply into his skin throbbed horribly every time he tried to move his injured arm and leg or if the car jerked about a little. The golden haired neko tried his best not to say a word and stay silent, but the pain was so bad that Ed couldn't help but whimper in pain: whenever he'd cried or whimpered when his daddy 'punished' him he'd get hurt even more and because of that the blonde had quickly learnt to stay silent throughout his abuse, but this pain was like nothing the child had ever felt before.

Not only was Edward in pain, but he was also terrified, terrified that he might lose the only person that has ever shown him kindness since his mother died, he was scared that Roy would un-adopt him and send him back to the orphanage or even abandon him on the streets altogether as punishment for what he had done. The blonde child wild and overactive imagination began thinking up all sorts of terrible punishments that the older man might give him, each one more cruel and painful as the last. The young boy's thoughts then turned to his teacher and Edward shivered in fear, and an ice cold chill ran down his small spine; he knew that Izumi was going to punish him even worse than Roy's and it almost made the blonde sick to think of what she could do to him.

Ed looked down at his seat and noticed that it was being coated by a thin layer of blood from his wounds, The blonde quickly wiped away at the blood with his sleeve fearing it may be another reason for Roy to send him away. Just then the car slowed to a stop, the dark haired solider quickly got out of his side of the car and opened the passenger side before scooping his adopted son into his arms before running into the hospital.

Because Mustang was a part of the military, he managed to pull strings to get Edward seen to almost immediately, by a middle aged doctor with thinning grey hair and warm grey eyes named Dr Palin, who quickly examined the boy before separating the child from it's parent, a nurse set Roy on a cold plastic chair outside the exanimation room and reassured the dark haired alchemist that everything would be done to help the blonde. Roy just nodded as he resisted the urge to storm into the room and comfort he blonde in some way but he knew that he needed to let the doctor do his job. With his head hung low and his fingers steeped together in worry silently, Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang prayed to a god he really did not believe in that Edward would be okay, but the muffled screams and pleas for Roy from the golden eyes child made the dark haired solider think otherwise.

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After and agonizing 2 hour wait, and after seeing several nurses came in and out of Edwards room, Dr Palin finally emerged, pulling bloody used rubber gloves from his hands before throwing them into a nearby sterile bin. "Mr Mustang I presume?" Dr Palin asked with a faint smile as the dark haired solider looked up at the aging doctor; he quickly stood up and stared at the doctor worry clearly visible on his face and in his eyes. "How is he? Will he be alright?" Roy asked a calmly as he could but anyone could see he was a man desperate for answers. The aging doctor too a deep breath before he gently sat the younger man back down before sitting on the cold plastic chair next to him. "I'm going to be...bluntly honest about your adopted sons condition Mr Mustang, His injuries are pretty severe, the bones in his left leg have shattered completely in several places, the bone is too damaged to be fixed using a normal plaster cast, instead he will have to go though what we call bone replacement surgery, if we don't, there is very little chance the boy with ever walk on that leg again, his arm is just as bad his had a couple of open fractures as well as hidden breaks in his arm, we've snapped the bones back into place and bandaged him up but until we have your consent to the surgery there isn't much more we can do apart from keep him monitored for 24 hours"

Roy swallowed heavily when he heard of how severe Edwards injuries actually were, the feelings of guilt and anger at himself grew, but outwardly he remained calm, He would be no good to Edward if he panicked. Taking a deep breath he turned to the doctor and sighed, "What will you do in surgery? And what are the chances of Ed's success?" The doctor smiled faintly his tired worn and aging face tried to look reassuring as he answered. "The surgery itself is simple, we cut open Edwards leg and remove the pieces of fractured bone, we then file off any jagged edges before replacing the missing bone with a metal rod, which we fix with several screws and bolts, the surgery should take about 5 hours or so and the changes of success are high over 95 so there is very little for you to worry about"

The lieutenant colonel nodded as he let this information sink in as he considered it; he knew he wanted Edward to be alright and this surgery seemed to be the best way forward, however he wanted to talk it through with the blonde child first. "I need to think about this...may I see my son now?" Dr Palin nodded and stood up before he silently lead the dark haired man to Edwards's room. "He's still in a lot of pain so if you do hug him be gentle," The doctor whispered before leaving to check on his other patients. Roy swallowed hard before he walked into the small room, and the man wasn't surprised to see Edward lying on his uninjured side shaking, his cat ears lying flat on his head, his golden tail twitching nervously and the child's shoulders were shaking violently.

Gently Roy walked up to the bed and sat on the edge of it, just silently watching the blonde, he knew all sorts of things must be running through the child's head right now, and he knew the blonde was scared of getting punished for what he had done, though in all honesty after what had just happened, Roy just didn't have the heart to punish Edward, he believed the injuries the blonde had sustained was enough punishment, though the dark haired solider doubted that his aunt would see it that way. "Edward its me" Mustang said gently, he wanted to shake the blonde but he didn't want to hurt Ed more than he already he was so he scratched the idea of shaking him and instead raked a hand gently through Ed's sunny yellow hair.

The blonde tensed up at his touch at first before slowly relaxing into the touch, the shivering seemed to settle down a little too, the dark-haired man smiled sadly "What a day huh? I've never been so worried or scared out of my wits before, but you should know you're going to be okay, you do need some surgery...but your going to be aright, I'm going to be here for you throughout okay"? Roy didn't expect an answer as he hand moved to the blonde's cat ears and gently he began rubbing them with his thumbs in a slow circular motion. It wasn't long until Ed began purring contentedly at the touch and it made the dark haired man smile; even though the blonde was still in a lot of pain, he could overlook it when the older man rubbed his ears. After about 10 minutes of Roy stroking the blonde's neko ears the lieutenant colonel noticed that Edward was now totally relaxed and was still purring contentedly, then Ed peeped at Roy from underneath his arm before he slowly and painfully sat himself up "A-aren't I in trouble?" Ed asked cutely confusion clearly laced in his voice as he adjusted the sling that was supporting is injured arm.

Mustang smiled weakly and ruffled Ed's hair "Not with me, I think all the injuries you have is enough punishment don't you think?" Ed looked down at his injured arm and leg then back up at Roy before he nodded. "It hurts..." He whispered sadly tears beginning to well up in his golden eyes once again. Gently Roy embraced the boy in a hug, being mindful of his injuries "I know Edward I know, just hold on for me okay? The doctors are going to have to do some surgery on you but you should feel much better after its done...that is if you want it..." Mustang went on to explain the surgery to the blonde who readily agreed to have it done as soon as possible; the blonde wanted to walk around again and soon, Dr Palin was soon informed and told them both that the surgery would begin later on that night.

Roy at this point had no choice but to do the inevitable; he had to phone his aunt Izumi and tell her what had happened to Edward, but before he'd put it off with the excuse that he didn't want to leave the blonde alone, but then Russell had turned up albeit a little sheepishly to apologize for the stupid bet he'd made and the two had been talking quietly about Russell brining Edward his homework from school when Roy slipped out of the room the make the phone call. To say that his aunt was not happy was a major understatement; Izumi was furious with the small blonde and it took 15 minutes for her to calm down after screaming she was going to do horrid things to the blonde before she told her nephew she'd be right over and though she hadn't actually said it, Roy knew she was going to severely punish Ed for disobeying her orders not to perform an actual transmutation.

Of course, Roy wasn't going to let that happen; he wasn't going to stand there and let Ed take more damage than he already had from the transmutation, so he made sure to wait in the corridor of where The blonde child was staying and stopped his Aunts rampage before it could reach the golden eyed neko. When Izumi did arrive the whole hospital knew about it "WHERE. IS. HE!" Izumi demanded loudly even though her teethe were gritted and her fists were clenched, her dark eye glinted dangerously and Mustang knew she meant business so he defiantly blocked the way to Ed's room.

Roy was stubborn yes, but that wasn't to say he still wasn't terrified of the women he was going up against right now. "Get out of the way Roy I need to teach that neko brat a lesson" She growled but Roy shook his head his arms folded across his uniformed chest, so Izumi punched her own nephew in the gut as a warning but Roy still wouldn't budge from the doorway "Damnit it! Roy Thomas Mustang Move away from the door now!"

Roy felt the wind get knocked out of him from his auntie's unexpected attack and he stumbled a little, but he still refused to move. "No auntie listen to me, he's been through enough pain, just come and look at him..." Roy muttered, he opened the door a crack so Izumi could see Edward laying on the bed his arm in a sling his hair dishevelled, blood on his shirt and his let in a splint. Izumi's cold hard eyes softened instantly, her fist unclenched and loosened and her whole body relaxed. She turned to Roy an unknown emotion on her face "I see...Maybe you're right" That was all she said before he went and sat down on one of the waiting chairs in the hallway. Roy was actually surprised that she'd backed down so easily, He sat next to her and wondered what his impulsive aunt was thinking when she suddenly playfully punched him in the arm and smirked "That's the first time you've actually stood up to me Roy, that Kid sure is changing you" She said with a chuckle. Roy winced a little at the punch before he shrugged and smirked "All in a day's work auntie, all in a day's work..."

Izumi chuckled a little when Dr Palin walked over to them both "Mr Mustang? It's time for the surgery" He murmured as two nurses entered the blonde's room, there was a muffled conversation before there was silence once again then the nurses carted Edward's bed out of the room, a mask over the blondes face. "We've just anesthetised him, don't worry" Roy nodded and stroked Ed's pale cheek fondly for a moment before he withdrew his hand and nodded indicating that he was ready to let the blonde go for surgery. Dr Palin nodded "See you in 5 hours" He said with a faint smile before he walked to the operation theatre with the two nurses.

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It was a tense wait for both Roy and Izumi as the minutes ticked by and the hours passed, the head nurse had at first told advised them to go home and try to rest and they would promise to call them once Ed as out of surgery, but both refused this offer and sat for 5 hours outside the operation theatre waiting for news. Then a few minutes later the door opened and Edward's came out of the theatre and it was being taken back to his ward, however Dr Palin looked grave when he left the theatre, when he saw the look on the doctor's face he felt his stomach drop and he began to fear the worst. He stood and faced the doctor "Is he alright? Did something happen?" Roy asked with obvious worry. The Middle aged doctor sighed sadly and gently he pushed The lieutenant colonel back into his chair, Izumi wrapped an arm around her nephew, ready to support him through whatever bad news that was to come.

"Edward is alive and well and the operation was a complete success...but I'm afraid I do have some bad news for you as well" The doctor paused to see weather this was sinking in before he continued "One of the nurses changed the bandage on Edwards arm...she found the beginnings of gangrene in his wounds...I'm sorry but we had no choice but to amputate his arm" The dark haired alchemist started, wide eyed at the doctor, as the horror of what he was saying finally sunk in, but it wasn't him who spoke it was Izumi. "You amputated Edwards arm...without Roy's consent?" she hissed coldly while glaring daggers at Dr Palin, Roy could see she was absolutely furious at the man for doing what he did.

Dr Palin was not stupid and he spotted the signs of anger in Izumi, and hastily took a step back his hands raised defensively as he tried to explain himself "I'm sorry but we didn't have a choice! The hospital's policy states that if gangrene is found in a patients wound than then the limb MUST be amputated before it spreads to other parts of the body, if we had ignored it, it could have spread to Edwards legs or even his other arm" Dr Palin said hastily, Roy nodded in Understanding at this and put a restraining arm on his aunts shoulder "Leave it Auntie the doctor was just doing his job" Roy murmured quietly, Izumi blinked in surprise at her nephew's passiveness, she expected him to be as angry as her, with a sigh she took a deep calming breath and sat back down, once the dark haired women did this Dr Palin continued speaking "I truly am sorry about Edwards arm, but there was nothing else we could do...He's been put under 48 hour surveillance so we can make sure that the gangrenes been taken from Ed's arm completely and that the implant in his leg is fitted properly, you can go and see him in ward 1 now but he'll still be heavily anesthetised"

The dark haired alchemist nodded and stood, his face blank, completely devoid of all emotion as he thanked the doctor and turned to Izumi "Come on auntie" he whispered his voice also devoid of any emotion. It wasn't until he re-entered Edward room and saw the bloody bandages surrounding the stump where the blonde neko's arm once was, it wasn't until then he cracked and silently burst out into tears, Softly Izumi pulled her Nephew to her and hugged him tightly, secretly she was glad her nephew had stood up to her when she had; Edward losing his arm was more than enough punishment.

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When Edward finally woke up early the next morning it was quite a shock to find his was suddenly missing an arm, it was hardly what the blonde was expecting and he began screaming in a panic, instantly waking up Roy and Izumi who had both been sleeping in the uncomfortable chairs in the hospital room. "Edward? Ed!" Roy yelled as he shook the blonde gently trying to make him stop screaming but the shock of what had happened overwhelmed the blonde and he just wouldn't stop...until Izumi slapped him.

The sound of the slap echoed throughout the small room and for a moment there was silence, Roy turned to his aunt in surprise his eyes wide in shock; he hadn't expected her to slap Edward, but Izumi's face was stony with determination "Get a hold of yourself Edward, You lost your arm and though I am sorry that you have, It could have been a hell of a lot worse, screaming and panicking over it isn't going to bring your arm back and it isn't going to help you" The blonde Neko, who's head had moved to one side from the force of the slap, slowly moved to look at Izumi, tears in his golden eyes, Izumi bit her lip before she continued "T-This is your punishment Edward...this is the consequences of your actions, for not listening to me, for ignoring my orders, you lost your arm...I'm sorry" Then Ed's teacher gently pulled the blonde into a warm motherly hug Edward was silent as trembling as he buried his head into her shoulder and cried silent tears of regret.

Later on once things had settled down Edward realized that a lot of things were going to change now that he'd lost his arm; He had been right handed and had used his right arm to do the most basic of things like write or hold a knife and fork, now that his right arm was missing Ed now had to rely on his left hand but he writing was terrible and his grip was weak on that hand, Roy and Izumi watched the blondes frustration helplessly, not knowing how to make this better for the blonde.

Things didn't improve when the blonde was finally sent home from the hospital his leg strapped up and covered in bolts and a metal frame and a bandaged stump where his right arm was, he was told he had to use a wheelchair and that he wasn't allowed to play outside until his leg got better, all in all it seemed Edward was becoming depressed, but he would never show it in front of Roy, instead he'd smile weakly and give the men a one armed hug to try and convince the older man that he was okay when both of them knew that he wasn't. Despite his disability Izumi decided to continue with Edwards studies on Alchemy, so as to keep Ed's mind off things not only that he needed to practise writing with his left hand too.

It was extremely hard for the blonde to write with his left hand at first, but he soon got the hang of it and his writing slowly improved. Russell also came over and gave the blonde his homework as promised; when he'd seen Ed without an arm, his guilt had only increased and had apologized to the smaller neko all over again. Ed had smiled and said that he'd forgive Russell if he continued to bring him his homework every day to which Russell agreed to without question. A week later an a residential nurse came to check up on Ed's injuries while Roy was away at work, so he was left alone with Izumi all day. The nurse told him that he was healing up well and that the metal case around his leg might be able to come off in a few weeks, and this cheered Ed up a little even though he'd need to do some serious physiotherapy.

A week has passed since the incident, and Ed found himself yearning for Roy's return more and more whenever he went off to work, the blonde began day dreaming about being able to sit in the mans lap while he worked again, just like he had done when he was 8; it was strange for him to be thinking such things Ed knew that but he missed the man so much that he didn't really put much thought into why he was feeling what he was feeling. Izumi had been keeping a close eye on the blonde and realized he probably wouldn't be the same now that he'd lost his arm, but Izumi had been thinking for a while about an alternate solution, all she had to do was make Roy agree to it, it would be hard as Roy didn't want to but the Neko through more pain but if they wanted Ed to be normal again this may be the only way.

Just then the door opened and Roy walked in looking practically exhausted; Hughes had bugged him about Elysia almost all of the way home, not only that he'd had a hard time at work with Riza almost shooting him because his mind had wandered off to Edward. "Roy, I need to talk to you" Izumi said as soon as he came in, and before he could protest his aunt grabbed a hold of his wrist and yanked him into the living room before she closed the door behind her. "Auntie what's all this about?" Roy asked tiredly; he'd had a long day an all he wanted was a nice hot bath and to go to sleep, Izumi sighed and took a deep breath before she spoke "Listen You and I have noticed that Ed hasn't been himself since he lost his arm...I was thinking that there might be a way to make things better, but I know your not going to like it..."

Roy frowned at her obviously confused "I was thinking about letting Edward get Auto mail Roy" the dark haired man's eye widened in shock at what his aunt was telling him "You what? Auntie are you nuts? He's 10 years old!" Roy hissed quietly as it sunk in what his aunt was proposing; Automail surgery was expensive and also extremely painful to go through, many a tough man had screamed and fainted through the procedure, not only that it was also risky the chances of dying during surgery was pretty high too.

"No, No way Auntie, he's been through enough pain and hurt, I wont let him go through this too" Roy said the tone in his voice suggested that there wasn't any way that he was going to back down but Izumi knew better; all men had a weakness Roy's happened to be Ed. "But what if he WANTS Automail Roy? What if he wants his arm back, well not HIS arm back but an arm back, don't you think he'd be happier to be able to use both hands? You and I both know that you can't use alchemy if you only have one had, its virtually impossible, if we don't let him have the surgery he'll never truly be an alchemist, lets talk to him about it, let him make up his own mind Roy" Izumi said noticing slowly that Roy's resolve was weakening as she spoke.

Eventually Roy's shoulders sagged in defeat and he nodded "Fine we'll tell him about Automail, but I wont leave out the complications with getting it auntie, I want him to understand how much of a burden its going to be" The dark haired women nodded and smiled slightly, she'd won this round, now the next round was all up to Edward. Luckily for Izumi Edward's eyes lit up and he grinned happily at the thought of having a replacement arm and even though Roy and Izumi explained the complications to the blonde, Ed still wanted it done "I want to be and alchemist, How many alchemists do you know who have only one arm?" He'd asked them, and neither could reply with anything other then a shrug. "I know a great Automail family who live in Resambul, they're great mechanics and the prices are reasonable, we'll have to get him sent over there when they have the time so ill phone up for an appointment "Izumi said with a faint smile as he used the phone in Roy's hall way and dialled the number.

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'Ring...ring' The phone rang but no one in the room wanted to pick up the phone, each on was busy with his or her own task "Grandma Pinako I believe its your turn to pick it up" a young girl not much older then 11 or twelve muttered around a screw which she'd stuck in her mouth while working on an Automail leg, she was wearing a faded blue t-shirt and worn denim dungarees, and a pair of grey scuffed trainers, her hair was tied behind her in a messy ponytail, her sandy cat ears and tail twitching as she concentrated on her task and a wrench was in her hand. "I think not young un I believe its Al's turn this time" A middle aged short women, Pinako replied looking equally busy as she smoothed a piece of metal down to fit over a piece of Automail, she was a short and plump lady, her dark grey hair was tied into a tight bun at the back of her head, she was wearing a faded pink apron and grey overalls and she had a pipe in her mouth which waggled a little as she spoke.

"Is it really my turn? Sorry I guess I forgot" The last person in the room said, a boy, not much older then 10 years of age said; he was tall for his age and slim built, he was wearing old black work pants and a dirty white t-shirt, he had a pair of goggles on top of his sandy blonde hair which rested against his dark yellow ears, his bronze coloured eyes sparkled in amusement and his tail twitched mischievously "I guess Ill get it then, you two are so lazy" He teased ducking just in time as a pair of wrenches came at him from both women, Alphonse, or Al for short just laughed and picked up the phone "Hello this is Rockbell Automail Al speaking...I see...an appointment?" All picked up a thin black book and flipped through it for a moment "Well we have space free on Friday afternoon at 3pm will that do? Okay then Ill book you in, see you there Mrs Curtis" Al said before putting the phone down and grinning

"We might have a potential customer granny, Mr's Curtis rang it seems her nephews son's been in an accident and he wants Automail for his missing arm" Pinako turned and looked away from her work for the first time and raised an eyebrow "Mrs Curtis huh? Ah yes I remember, I made an Automail leg for her husband Sig about six months ago wasn't it?" Winry nodded and giggled as she took the screw out of her moth and began screwing it in the Automail "Yup! Mr Curtis was really big and quiet he hardly said a word even when we were doing the operation"

Pinako chuckled as she puffed on her pipe "Ah yes I remember Izumi Curtis, she's quite a women...well lets get back to work, Ill make some stew for us later on if we get all this finished " Al and Winry exchanged a happy look before they nodded "Yes ma'am!" they chorused before they went back to there separate work tables and went on with their work, after all it was just another quiet peaceful day in Resambul. None of them knew there lives would change forever when Edward Elric would come to see them...

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Okay! That's it I'm done! I'm so sorry it took so long for this to happen but I was working on it on another floppy disc when I lost it so I had to re-write the damned thing Anyway I hope you like it. It WAS going to be longer but I decided to cut it off there and let you guy's stew until the next chapter Mwahahahaha! Until then, Later!

Jade xx


	5. Automail and Adolescence

AUTHORS NOTES: IMPORTANT!

Okay first of all thanks to everyone that reviewed and read my story, I honestly can't thank you guys enough for all the encouragement everyone has given me and I really appreciate the 97 reviews I've been given so far in this story; its the highest number of reviews I've ever gotten for a story so I'm very happy.

Secondly I'm a little annoyed at people asking me certain questions about the story, if everyone cared to read the notes before the story began all your questions would be answered about Ed and Al and certain others having cat ears and tails. To save everyone going back through past chapters I'll explain it again here; Roy is comfortable about Ed having cat ears and a tail is because it is the norm in my time line remember this is an AT (Alternate timeline) and an AU (Alternate Universe) story. The idea is based off the anime Loveless so everyone is born with the ears and the tail but they disappear once they lose their virginity.

Thirdly, Alphonse while in this story is NOT, I repeat NOT Edward's brother, Al is WINRY'S brother instead and Hoenhiem is NOT Edwards father in this story.

I'm not saying this to be mean, I really do appreciate all your comments but it is annoying when several people have asked me the same question to something I explained a couple of chapters back in the story. If you have any OTHER questions that don't involve this issue please don't hesitate to ask me and I'll be more then willing to answer you're queries in the next chapter.

Also a BIG thank you to Duosbaby9 on Gaiaonline for making a WONDERFUL fan art of my story! If you want to see it, go on deviantART's website and look up the artist 'Hikaru9' the picture is under the title 'FMA-Paperwork::Roy+Ed cute::' Go and see it! It's adorable and taken from a scene in chapter 2.

That's really all I wanted to say I hope this doesn't put you off reading the rest of the story I really want you to enjoy this story as much as I enjoy writing it so please read, review and enjoy!

Jade xx

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Chapter 5 - Automail and Adolescence

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Edward was nervous as he waited at Central City's busy train station with Roy and Izumi; the three of them were waiting for the automail mechanics from Resambool that were due to arrive any minute now to inspect Edwards arm and give Roy an estimation on how much the automail and the surgery would cost. The blonde neko was always nervous when meeting new people or when he was in new places but he tried not to show it as he sat in his wheelchair the metal frame that kept his injured leg bolted in place was covered by a blanket so people couldn't see the injury as Ed was uncomfortable with people staring at it.

But they couldn't do anything about his missing arm and the shirtsleeve was left dangling on his right arm as it fluttered about uselessly in the hustle and bustle of the station. Roy Mustang looked down at his adopted son and smiled weakly, he gently squeezed Edwards left hand in a comforting gesture which made Edward smile and feel a little better but in truth, Roy was just as nervous as the small child was, he was still reluctant about the surgery and he felt that his worst fear of losing Edward may come true if the blonde went under the knife.

5 minutes later a large locomotive pulled into the stop with a hiss the brakes made the train screech to a halt. The blonde neko started at the train wide eyed, he'd never seen such a machine up close before, it was huge and the engine bright red color while the passenger carriages were painted a darker burgundy, suddenly people started getting out of the train and were greeted by friends and loved ones. Roy and his aunt both tried to look over the busy crowd to find the mechanics. "Over there" Izumi murmured a moment later before she nudged Roy not-so-gently in the ribs before she began walking over to the far end of the carriages, with a heavy sigh he had no choice but to wheel Edward around in the wheelchair and follow her muttering to the chibi neko how his aunt was way too bossy, Edward smiled at this and felt the same funny feeling in his stomach when slowly, Roy smiled back.

Pinako Rockbell was easily into her late 70's and many would think she would be far too old to be doing such hard work as an automail mechanic, but it was a work that she loved and she was passing that work down to her two grandchildren who had accompanied her on the trip while her son and his wife ran the shop back in Resambool. The elderly women remembered clearly what Izumi Curtis looked like and spotted her almost instantly with a nod to her two grandchildren they walked off the train, the two children carrying several heavy bags of what consisted no doubt to be a variety of tools. "Gran! Why do WE have to carry all the bags" Winry Rockbell whined as she shifted one of the bags so that it putt less strain on her arms.

Pinako chuckled and rolled her eyes "Because I'm old and frail that's why, have respect for your elders Winry" Pinako said as she pulled out an old fashioned pipe, filled the hole with tobacco then lit it, while Al mutters to Winry that their grandmother wasn't frail enough to throw a wrench at him with pinpoint accuracy. By this time Izumi had met Pinako in the middle of the platform. Izumi regarded Pinako for a moment before she smirked "I'm surprised your still moving around so well you old bag" Izumi said her pale hands rested delicately on her hips but her dark eyes regarded Pinako fondly. Pinako chuckled at this and smiled the pipe dangling preciously in her mouth "Good to see you too Izumi, How's Sig doing these days?" Pinako said ignoring the fact Izumi had just insulted her or at least tried to; it was common banter between the two adults and as the two talked Al and Winry looked at each other in surprise at how well the two got along even though they occasionally traded insults.

Al then spotted the boy in the wheelchair, he didn't look much older then he was, he had bright blonde hair and gold eyes, he noticed the arm sleeve without an arm in it and guessed that this was their client, Winry had also noticed Ed and began blushing; she thought that he looked adorable and so cute! "Well then let's get business over with shall we...ah so this must be Roy you're nephew and his son yes?" Pinako asked looking at Edward who squirmed under her gaze; it wasn't that the gaze was cold or unfriendly, quite the opposite but Edward wasn't used to being stared at, it made him feel like he was being scrutinized under a microscope and it made him uncomfortable

"This is Edward" Roy murmured to distract Pinako from the blonde boy "I'm afraid he's a little shy around new people" the aging mechanic just nodded and smiled at the boy; he seemed like a bright child, nervous and shy but a bright child nonetheless. "Very well, lets go and do business shall we?" She said with a chuckle "Alphonse, Winry come on, don't lag about!" With a simultaneous groan the two siblings followed their grandmother to Roy's waiting car.

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When they arrived back at Mustang's house, Izumi made cups of tea and hot chocolate for everyone before they settled down to business Winry had made a point to sit as close to Edward as possible, Al sat next to her while Roy sat on his adopted son's opposite side with Izumi, as Pinako peeled of Edwards bandages and inspected the wound. "Hmmmm...Well the surgery isn't going to be easy, then again no surgery is, if your still willing to go through with It, I suggest we do it as soon as possible, the wound hasn't completely healed yet, which is good it means less pain for your son"

The dark haired solider nodded at this "It's not up to me, this is Edward's decision" Roy murmured quietly and Pinako turned to him and saw the worry in his dark eyes before she shot the man a sympathetic look, gently she rested a wrinkled, calloused hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry so much my boy, in all my years of doing automail surgery, I've never lost a patient yet" She said and smiled as she looked over at the younger boy, while Al was trying to talked to Edward "So you're Edward right?" Al asked the smaller blonde neko, who just nodded in confirmation "My names Alphonse but everyone calls me Al and this is my big sister Winry" the sandy haired neko said as Winry smiled at Edward "So...are you really going to get the Automail done?" Al asked with a friendly smile. The small child blinked and stared back at the other boy blankly before he nodded meekly "I...I want to be an alchemist...so...so I need to get Automail or I can't be one" Edward murmured shyly. Winry giggled at this and ruffled Ed's hair gently "Aww you're so cute!" the blonde girl said which made Ed wrinkle his nose in dislike.

"I am not!" The small blonde protested loudly which in turn surprised everyone in the room; Edward wasn't one to shout unless someone called him small. Winry cocked her head to one side her sandy ears twitched, as she looked confused "Yes you are, your adorable!" She argued back before he gave Ed a hug, not noticing the three adults watching the three children in a mixture of amusement and weariness. Ed continued to wrinkle his nose in dislike at the 'adorable' comment and felt strange as Winry hugged him; it wasn't like the strange feeling he felt in his stomach when he was with Roy it felt strange in an odd of way, but despite all that deep down he knew he was enjoying Al and Winry's company; he'd never gotten close to any children his own age in the orphanage before because he'd been so sure all he needed was Roy, but seen as the older man had to go to work and he was left with Izumi, Edward had started to feel a little lonely. Even so all this was new to him and he was nervous, but it felt nice to talk with other kids even though he constantly felt weary around them, he was feeling more comfortable around the two Rockbell children.

Meanwhile the three adults were in discussion "So Edward wants the Automail, yet you're still unsure" Pinako asked Roy who nodded his face weary and strained. Izumi took a deep breath but otherwise remained silent; she had given her nephew the contacts in which to give the blonde an arm back, now it was up to him and Edward, she didn't have a right to intervene. "Like I said, its not my choice, its Edward's body if he wasn't to go through with the automail surgery then I have no choice but to support him" the dark haired man said with a faint smile "And I know he wants the sugary badly I've discussed it several times with him and his sure he wants it done" Roy said. The aging mechanic nodded and smiled "Very well, I need to tell you that once the sugary is done Edward will have to visit us in Resambool once every six months to check if his leg needs adjusting, this is because he's so young and he's bound to grow up quickly, by the time he reaches about 19 you won't have to worry about the check ups unless he damages the automail or its causing him discomfort"

The dark haired man nodded at this "When will you do the surgery?" the lieutenant Colonel asked and Pinako smiled "Why tonight my boy, oh don't panic were not going to perform the surgery here in your living room" She added at the stricken look on the dark haired man's face "We've booked a small surgeon's room at the local hospital, we will do the surgery there, the whole thing will take about 5 to 6 hours but first we need to make the actual arm and with the three of us working on it, we should have it ready for tonight, once the surgery is done and we know everything's working properly, then you can pay us"

Roy nodded and glanced at this adopted son out of the corner of his eye; the blonde seemed to be happy around the two children as he talked and didn't seem at all nervous or scared about what was going to happen to him. The dark haired solider sighed and mentally began praying once again to a god he didn't believe in, that Edward would make it through the surgery.

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Edward went into surgery at 8pm that night, a nervous Roy reassuring Edward that he'd be right outside the door, he knew the small neko was scared he had been since he was told that he would have the surgery straight away; this meant that there was no way for Ed to back down and say no, and the dark haired man knew that even if he was asked the blonde would still agree to the surgery, the small child wanted it that badly. "You're going to be alright Edward I'll be waiting for you outside" He said as he held the blondes hand as the three Rockbell mechanics prepared for the grueling task ahead. The dark haired man tried to pull his hand away from Ed's when Pinako motioned with a slow nod that she was ready but the blonde neko held on to Roy so tightly that his small fingers turned white. "I'm scared," He whimpered "Can't you stay?" Ed begged the older man.

The Lieutenant Colonel's heart clenched uncomfortably, he wanted to say he would stay with the blonde, he really did, because he just couldn't deny those big golden eyes anything, but he knew that the Rockbell's would not allow him in the room while the surgery was being performed. Before he could answer Winry had overheard them and came over shaking her head sadly "I'm sorry Ed, but Mr. Mustang has to wait outside" She said before she gently patted the blonde child on the head in what she thought was a comforting gesture before she walked off and inspected a set of tools. Ed whimpered as fear gripped him, Roy smoothed the small neko's blonde hair down and he smiled "Don't be scared Ed, even if I'm not right next to you, I'll always be here alright? So be brave through the surgery for me" The small neko boy nodded some of his fear ebbing away though it was still visible in those golden orbs, and it seemed the child was comforted that the older man would be nearby. Roy smiled and kissed the blondes forehead gently, which made Edward blush brightly.

"It's time, we can't delay for much longer" Pinako said with a sigh, Mustang nodded gravely and slipped his hand out of Edward's grip and watched sadly as the Rockbell's wheeled the young blonde into the operation theatre leaving a worried Roy and a supportive Izumi behind. It wasn't long before the blonde neko's muffled whimpers and yelps of pain could be heard, each one wanted Roy to make a dash for the door and make the mechanics stop what they were doing to Edward, but every time he made a move to get up Izumi sat him back down and gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze.

Six grueling, agonizing hours later, the three Rockbell's emerged wheeling Ed's bed out of the operation theatre, the blonde looked terrible, his usual pink face was as white as a sheet and clammy to the touch, he was breathing heavily and a thin layer of sweat covered the blonde's face and chest. "The operation was a success, he needs to rest now, I'm afraid the operations exhausted him, but considering his age its to be expected...I'm surprised though, I've seen many a man three times as old as Edward faint during the procedure, But the blonde was awake throughout, I've never seen a braver patient" Pinako said with a weary smile, the dark haired man just sagged in relief that the blonde was going to be okay.

In the end the dark haired man ended up staying by the blonde's bedside day and night, taking days off work to stay with the blonde, he scarcely moved from the blonde's room unless it was to go to the toilet or when Izumi forced him to eat something. Two days passed before Edward was well enough to start training his body to accept the automail as a part of his body, Pinako oversaw this at first then once she was satisfied she left Roy a simple list of exercises for Ed to do everyday until he could use the automail easily. It was then that she gave him her cost for the automail and surgery; by this point Mustang didn't care how much it cost he was just glad it was all over for now.

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It was two weeks later and it was the day of Edwards 11th birthday, as Roy had planned before; Ed was to celebrate his birthday in a joint party with Elysia, seen, as their birthdays were only two days apart from each other. The dark haired man was nervous about how Ed would take the party, as he knew that the blonde neko probably hadn't had one before; Roy had decided to invite a select few people who he knew meant a lot to the small neko; All of the Lieutenant Colonel's subordinates who had grown fond of the blonde child were coming, as well as Izumi and her husband, Pinako and the two Rockbell children that Edward was so fond of. The dark haired man sighed as he glanced over at Ed who was doing the flexing exercises for this automail; ever since the operation the small child had been a lot happier and had diligently done the exercises that Pinako had given him but he'd also been very quiet, and many a time he'd caught the blonde staring at the dull metal on his arm and looking so sad that Roy's heart almost broke, but the look lasted only a moment before the child spotted Roy and smiled at him trying to look cheerful for the man as though nothing was wrong.

That upset Roy, why couldn't Ed tell him what was wrong? Did he still not trust him? The dark haired man shook his head, he knew that was a stupid thought; Edward had trusted him since first day they had met. 'No something's on his mind perhaps he wants to sort it out on his own maybe he wants to start being independent' Roy thought with a sad sigh; he knew that the blonde neko would grow up and gain confidence eventually and he was proud of the child but he found himself missing the times when Edward would ask to be carried or would cling to him if he was being taken somewhere new, slowly the small blonde managed to grow out of the phase and the most contact With Edward he got was a hug or holding the blonde's hand.

'Damnit' Roy thought as he raked a hand through his hair 'Why do I miss that so much? Maybe its because I think he's growing up too fast? Yeah, that might be it...' Roy thought as he looked at himself in the mirror; he usually didn't try and dress up all that much, but today was Ed's birthday so he was making an effort as he knew a few of Elysia friends and family would be there too. 'Maybe I can find someone to settle down with and be a real family' the dark haired man thought before he chuckled and shook his head; he just couldn't see it no matter how hard he tried. 'No my family is Edward that's all I need' Roy thought looking back over at the blonde.

Edward had that sad look on his face again staring at the automail as though he didn't want it anymore. Silently Mustang walked over to Ed and crouched by him "Hey, are you okay?" he asked which made Ed jumped in surprise and he looked up and started at the man.

It was then he could see tears in Ed's eyes.

"Edward what's wrong?" Roy asked concerned as he placed a hand on Ed's flesh shoulder; his worry increased when he could feel the blonde shaking under his touch. The dark haired man bit his lip worriedly his dark eyes searching Edwards for some clue as to what was ailing his adopted son "Edward what is it? Is you're automail hurting you?" Roy asked but the blonde merely shook his head silently as tears fell down his face. "Do...do you still like me?" Ed whispered so quiet that the older man almost didn't hear him.

Roy frowned at the question and would have laughed if he hadn't seen the serious yet upset look on Ed's face. The Lieutenant Colonel cursed to himself; why didn't he realize that a child like Ed would get insecure about looking different? It made sense; now he had automail, the blonde figured he didn't look right amongst all the other kids, even though his friends Russell, Al and Winry didn't care, he still didn't know how Roy felt, the dark haired man smiled a little when he realized this and gently he wiped the blonde's tears away "Of course I still like you, it doesn't matter how much automail you have to have, You're my son and I love you no matter what alright?"

Ed swallowed and nodded, but the pitiful look on the blondes face made Roy hug him close "Don't cry Edward it's you're birthday, you're supposed to be happy you know" Roy said, but Edward didn't answer, he just sniffled and nodded as he buried his head on the older man's shoulder, inhaling his scent and just taking comfort in the fact that the man was there. Roy held Ed for a while just holding the blonde, as the small child nuzzled into his shoulder, but then there was a knock on the door and the dark haired solider reluctantly pulled away, as he smiled and wiped the blondes eyes "I'll be right back" he said with a smile leaving Edward alone once again, not noticing the huge blush on the child's face nor the smile creeping up onto it.

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When Roy opened the door the last person he'd been expecting was Jade, Ed's former caretaker "...Hi" He said obviously surprised at her arrival, and the brunette women chuckled "Hi, sorry for just dropping in unannounced, but I wanted to give Edward this" She said holding up a small but heavy package that was wrapped in blue and sliver paper and handed it over to the man. Roy smiled "Um do you want to come in?" He asked her attentively; he knew Jade and Edward had been pretty close and seeing her might cheer the blonde up.

Instead she shook her head and smiled "Oh no thank you I have to get back to the orphanage, besides he doesn't need to see me, just tell him I dropped it off that'll be enough for him" She said with a smile "After all he' s got everything he wants now" then with one last smile she turned and left the house. The dark haired man just blinked and watched her go, the heavy package still in his arms. Sighing he shut the door and walked back to Ed " Hey guess what? Jade was here she dropped a present off for you" the older man said as he placed the present in Ed's lap

Ed blinked and looked down at the present with a small smile before he slowly began using both of his hands to tear the wrapping apart; Ed was still unused to automail and he couldn't control it properly at the best of times, luckily Ed managed to pull all the wrapping off without any problems and he stared at the box; inside was a small chocolate cake with the words 'Happy birthday Ed' Iced in white Icing, the blonde's lips slowly turned into a wide happy smile "Can I have some now?" the blonde asked hope in his eyes.

Roy chuckled in amusement; he knew Ed had a sweet tooth but he especially loved chocolate even though Roy had pointed out that it had milk in it, it didn't deter the blonde from eating it. "Not now, you can have a slice at the party alright? Come on we were supposed to be there by now, and Elysia won't like that you're late" Roy stated chuckling at the grimace on Ed's face; it was common knowledge that Elysia Hughes had a crush on Edward and Edward being the confused and nervous 11 year old he was, pretended he didn't like girls, but Roy knew that the blonde liked her really even if she was always clinging onto him.

They eventually arrived at the party 15 minutes late and as soon as they entered Edward was greeted by a pink blur that glomped him happily "Edo-kun!" 8-year old Elysia Hughes squealed happily hugging the blonde so hard his face turned blue for a moment. The blonde neko politely hugged her back but squirmed away from her when she kissed him on the cheek. "Eww Elysia" He whined as he scrubbed the wet mark off his cheek where she'd kissed him, making everyone in the room smile; it was an adorable moment. Elysia Hughes giggled her face red to match the pretty pink party dress and matching hair ribbons that she wore, Ed had to admit she looked very cute but he didn't FEEL anything for her other than friendship, but he knew that Elyisa was too young to know that just yet.

"Happy birthday Edward "Lieutenant Hawkeye said with a rare smile her long blonde hair was pulled into a braid then wrapped around itself to form a topknot, Havoc waved and winked and unlit cigarette in his mouth, Breda and Fury smiled at the blonde, Izumi wand Sig was there too Izumi actually smiling for once and Hughes and Gracia smiled as she picked up Elysia and Ed managed to smile back at them "Come on Edward its time to open your presents!" Elysia cheered the golden haired neko smiled at the dark haired neko and beamed happily as a pile of presents where pushed in front of him, Edward had never felt happier at that moment with the older man helping him unwrap his presents, right then an there he wouldn't have been anywhere else.

The party lasted for four hours and by the end of it both Elysia and Edward was fast asleep from exhaustion, they'd played games, eaten cake and god knows what else that was full of sugar, they'd laughed and enjoyed themselves and now they were crashed out, Elysia curled up on the sofa and Edward in his wheelchair. Roy couldn't help but smile at the cute sight as he, Izumi, Sig and the Rockbell's helped Hughes sand Gracia clean up. "He seems to be doing a lot better" Izumi commented quietly as she helped Roy clean up some paper plates "I think that's the happiest I've ever seen him" Izumi said flashing the sleeping blonde a rare, but very fond smile.

Roy nodded and smiled as well "Yeah I noticed, I'm glad he wasn't as nervous as he was before we came, he was scared that people wouldn't like him now he has automail, but he seems okay now…are you going to continue teaching him alchemy?" Roy asked his aunt who looked thoughtful for a moment.

"To be honest Roy There isn't much more I can teach him, he absorbs the information so fast I can hardly keep up with him, he's frighteningly intelligent Roy and I think a few more lessons will do then I'll have nothing more to teach him, the rest is up to him on what he studies in the future" Izumi said, with a wan smile "You have a really bright kid there Roy you should be proud of him" the dark haired solider just nodded he didn't need to speak for her to know that he was already proud of Edward; she could see it on his face.

It was 7pm by the time the house was tidy and Edward was still asleep Roy decided that it would be easier carrying the blonde and folding up the wheelchair and packing it away in the car, rather than trying to move Edward around in the wheelchair and possibly waking the blonde up. Izumi helped her nephew pack the wheelchair away in the car before bidding them both farewell.

The drive home was a silent one, and occasionally Roy would glance over at the blonde that was sleeping peacefully next to him, those long blonde lashed closed over golden eyes, Edward's hair had become loose from its braid and was now draped all over the car seat, Roy couldn't help the fond smile on his lips; the blonde neko really had enjoyed himself and that could only be a good thing. Once they had arrived home Roy went upstairs and tucked the blonde in bed and wondered if Ed would actually stay there: even though ed was growing dependant and not clinging to him in public, in private Edward very occasionally decided to sneak into his adopted fathers room and sleep in his bed instead and it wouldn't be the first time he'd found his adopted son fast asleep next to him.

Roy wondered if Ed was having any nightmares that made him come into his room to sleep but the blonde had shaken his head whenever the older man had asked him 'It doesn't matter, he's still young he'll grow out of it eventually' Roy thought as he stroked the top of Ed's hair and ears, smiling as he heard the small neko purring happily under his touch, gently the dark haired solider kissed Ed on the forehead before leaving the child to sleep.

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Four months passed by after Ed's birthday without incident; Edward was back at school with Russell and Izumi had left to go back to Lior deciding that there was nothing more that she could teach Edward. The blonde neko had been extremely sad that his teacher had to leave so soon, he'd grown quite fond of her, even if she did scare him half to death sometimes. "Do you really have to go?" Ed whined as he gripped onto her white dress with his flesh fist and pouted pitifully. Roy coughed and moved a hand over his mouth to hide the chuckle and the smile that had escaped onto his face; Ed really was just too adorable sometimes.

Izumi frowned and looked down at the blonde child "What is the point in staying Edward? I've taught you all that I know now its up to you weather you continue your alchemic studies with Roy or weather you do something else, the choice is up to you now, not only that I have other students that need my guidance" The small child considered this and nodded reluctantly letting her go. "Okay but come back and visit soon" Ed said his big golden eyes looking up at her hopefully, it was then the dark haired women's face softened and she smiled a little before she ruffled up Ed's sunflower yellow hair messily which made the blonde scrunch up his face in dislike "I will do soon Ed, now I have a train to catch, Roy" She said looking over at her nephew before she gave him a quick hug then Izumi left the two alone once more.

Now that Izumi had left Ed could now focus more on getting better, at first he used the wheelchair when he couldn't control his arm properly, but after a month or so he gained better control over the automail and his leg was healing well so the hospital took out the metal frame on his leg and provided the child with crutches for him to be able get about in that the house and in school easier, but eventually they weren't needed after another month or so and before anyone knew it, the blonde neko could get around fine on his own two feet.

Not only did his focus his time on being able to walk around like everyone else but he continued to study alchemy even though he was on his own. Everyday after school at 4pm, he'd come home and go straight to the library and read some of the books his adopted father had on alchemy until 6pm when, Roy would come home from work and the two would eat together and on a weekend Roy would help him with his studies and answering any questions the blonde had. Edward was still adamant on becoming an alchemist and Roy was amazed at the amount of ambition and drive the blonde had; he saw no reason not to help the blonde and answered as many of the young child's questions as he could.

"Is it true some alchemists can use alchemy without drawing a circle and all they have to do is clap their hands?" Edward asked one rainy Saturday evening, the two were curled up on the sofa, Ed sitting in Roy's lap reading a rather large book on transmutation alchemy. The dark haired solider nodded and smiled "Yes it's true, but that ability is extremely rare only 1 in 20,000 alchemists have ever achieved to master such an ability, my aunt is one of those people you know" The small neko's golden eyes widened in surprise "She can perform alchemy like that!?" he asked amazed his golden orbs wide in surprise, Roy chuckled and ruffled Ed's hair.

"Yes she can, she had to study long and hard for that ability but even if you do that you're not guaranteed to be able to do the same" Mustang warned gently, the small child just nodded at this and continued reading in silence all the while silently vowing to be the best alchemist he could be.

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It was a year later that something happened in young Edward Elrics life that would change his world forever.

Edward was now 12 years old; he'd grown fully accustomed to his automail and his leg, he was tied at the top of the class alongside Russell, and his wisdom and knowledge in alchemy surpassed even his adopted fathers. Not only had the young neko gained knowledge, he'd gained a lot more confidence in himself too, he was more outgoing and seemed to be more at ease around people he didn't know, he still ranted childishly whenever someone called him small or chibi but the outbursts were less frequent as he grew up, and Roy knew that Edward would eventually grow out of it.

Roy was proud of Edward, he always had been and his pride grew when he saw the small child growing up and maturing everyday, he wanted to help the blonde as much as he could and regularly sneaked out books from the Central Headquarters library for the young child to get immersed in while the lieutenant Colonel was busy at work. All this reading and research however, made Edward want to perform alchemy for real, but because of his previous accident with performing alchemy, he was a little nervous about doing so on his own, so he asked for Roy's assistance for the first few times that Edward tested out transmutation circles, after he gained enough confidence he began testing out circles on his own and the older man just watched him in the distance.

By now Edward had settled into a routine of schoolwork and alchemy research, it was very rare for the blonde neko to go out and play with other kids at school, instead he and Russell hung around the library absorbing as much knowledge as they could in school and at home, and during the weekend he spent a lot of his time studying, that is until his adopted father declared that he worked far to hard for a 12 year old and told Edward that they were going out somewhere, Ed never knew where it was always a surprise but the blonde child enjoyed these surprises because he could relax and have fun with the most important person in his life.

So that was Edward routine study at school and at home then go out in the weekend with Roy, sometimes Russell was invited along as well but the routine never really changed it was the same old thing day in, day out until one day...the school began teaching the students of Edwards class I different kind of lesson...

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Edward sighed as he followed the line of children into the classroom for his last lesson of the day; Russell was walking next to him and frowned "Hey what's up? You seem down" the small neko regarded the taller blonde wearily and shrugged offhandedly; in truth he didn't know what was wrong; whenever he was around his adopted father he felt extremely happy and content, the butterflies in his stomach fluttered and he blushed heavily and he found himself staring at the older man for minutes at a time, it was confusing the blonde because he'd always felt like this but his feelings were getting stronger everyday and the blonde neko was starting to get curious as to what he was feeling.

The taller neko looked at Ed confusedly as the smaller blonde remained silent. "Hey you in there today?" Russell asked tapping on the shorter blonde's head gently which made Ed blink in surprise before glaring at his best friend "Yes I am I was just thinking that's all" Ed muttered grumpily as they sat down at their desks. It was then that Edward noticed the strange things on the teachers desk there was a lot of leaflets and various small packets. The teacher coughed to make the room silent before he began the lesson "Today boys and girls we will be discussing relationships and sex..."

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Edward walked into an empty house looking pale and sweaty; the sexual education lesson had really opened his eyes but it wasn't because he was interested in the subject, rather it was because what they were learning was relevant to how he was feeling about Roy. The lesson had explained the butterflies in his stomach the constant blushing were all the signs of a crush on a person a fleeting attraction but sometimes that fleeting attraction could develop into something more. Edward couldn't believe it at first, he refused to believe such a thing, and he even felt sick at the thought of what he'd been feeling without even realizing it 'But...the teachers right…I don't see him as my adopted father, I never have...I...I see him as a man I like...I love maybe? No it can't be, I can't like him like that I can't!' Ed's mind raced as he began to panic, he denied the truth to himself over and over again until he eventually ended up running to the bathroom and vomiting in the toilet knowing that it as much as he wanted to deny it, it was indeed the truth.

He had a crush on his adopted father.

Edward vomited until his stomach was empty then when he was done, he burst out into tears; when he was younger he'd always had these feelings because he was the only person that had ever protected and cared for him since his mother had passed away, but now he was growing up and those feelings were the same yet at the same time, they were changing into something different and were growing stronger. Before, his feelings were to just be near the man that protected him, now his mind and body wanted much more then that, they wanted to do things that had been demonstrated in the sexual education lesson. 'I can't think like that and I can't tell him either if I do, would he send me away back to the orphanage for good?' The blonde shook his head at this, but he honestly didn't know how his adopted father would react to such a thing, Ed checked his watch; it was 5:45pm Roy would be home from work soon.

Wiping his eyes, the small neko child flushed the toilet, cleaned himself up and headed straight to the library, she sat down in a worn leather arm chair and pretended to read a book, like he usually did, and he pretended for a little while, that nothing was wrong.

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Ohhh cliffhanger! So Ed's realized his feelings for Roy! What will Roy do when Ed's attitude change's towards him? Heee I guess you'll have to find out next time won't you? Laters!

Jade xx


	6. Note

Hello to all 'The innocent and the Damned' fans. I'm afraid that no, this is NOT the new chapter you've all been waiting for I'm sorry to say that chapter six will be severely delayed for several reasons:

1: I've been extremely busy with other things in my life and I haven't really had time to write which sucks, but It's also the way things are.

2: My computer has decided to go on the blink so that leaves me with the option of using library computers, which are crap.

3: The floppy disk that had a THRID of the story written on it, decided to go and format itself so now all of my work, not just the new chapter has been lost 

Please don't panic I WILL make chapter 6 and I'll do it as fast as I can! Luckily I already had the basic plot line written out as a reference. So to all who are worrying about the series, don't panic I will finish this series if it kills me! Until next time!

Jade xx


	7. Avoidance and Alchemy Assesments

I am REALLY sorry that this took me so long As I said in my note all of my work on my floppy disk got erased and I had to start over so I really am sorry for the HUMONGUS delay this caused and I hope you guys will forgive me once you read this. BEWARE: Roy is going to be angsting lot in this one XD

Also a MEGA BIG thank you to everyone who has reviewed and given me support:

Psychotic Lee: OMG! Hi! Thanks for your review hun! Yeah the horror! XD Well, poor Edo had to learn the birds and the bees from somewhere at some point XD Hope you like this chapter!

Rokona: Hi thanks for your review I hope you like this one and sorry for the HUGE wait!

Ursweetheartless: Ha ha! I made you wait ages again didn't I? Oh well I 'm sure this chapter was worth it XD Thank you for the review!

ScathingSarcasm: XD your review made me laugh! Everyone seems to hate me when I leave cliff hangers…but there so fun! Blame all the soap dramas I watch here in the UK, they are MURDER for cliff hangers XD

Aino Hikaru: OMG! Hi (Glomps) Yeah I know, I'm murder for run on sentences though I think I'm improving on that as I go along! Thank you for your advice and for all the lovely fan art you've ever made for this story! I'll be requesting more from ya soon! XD

Anmbcuconnfan: Yup he discovers sex! I figured it was about time! XD Thanks for reviewing!

Jumping shinobi: Why yes I am um how did you put it…'Fucking evil' for making Ed love his adopted father but that was the whole point of the story! And another thing, how come you only realized this until chapter 5??? XD

Hikaru: You asked and you shall receive! I hope you like it!

PuRE'Curse: Yeah I always have problems with stuff like that hopefully I've improved on that in this chapter! Enjoy!

DMHPluv: Wow thank you (Ego swells) I hope you enjoy this update as much as the last one!

Samuraigirllrf: Here's the update Thanks for reviewing hun!

Fmetalalchemist: This story is my love child! Of course I'm gonna continue! Enjoy this chapter!

Roy Mustang 08: Thanks a lot for your review!!! Wow you posted and awful lot of reviews in one go didn't you? XD I'm glad you enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy this chapter too!

Peachtarts: I'm sorry it took so long to update! I hope you didn't forget this story! And thanks for adding me to your alerts!!!

Yumeki-Chan: OMG Tears (Glomps) I dun care if you changed your name on gaia your always tears to me I hope you like this chapter!!! (Hugs)

Laine Squirrel- Thanks! Yes he is very confused at the moment and is pretty torn as you'll see in this chapter; even though he loved Roy he's scared of rejection more than most people would be because of his abusive past. Let's just hope Roy realizes he loves him back ne? XD

Kianna13: Thank you I glad you liked it!

Hink: I know I'm just glad I bough a memory stick, they're much more reliable XD

Rokona: Thank you for your concerns but I promise you nothing was harmed in the making of this chapter! XD Enjoy!

XxTypoMasterxX: Yup I'm still breathing! Like id abandon this story! Like I said earlier its my love child! XD I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Sabith: I'm glad you liked it! Hope you enjoy this chapter too!

Bar-Ohki: Thanks I hope that this update lives up to your expectations!

Namen Shoda: Thanks for the offer but ill have to decline, I know my style isn't perfect but that's the way I like it, I want to slowly improve my writing in my own way, so please keep reading getting comments like yours only shows that I can still improve!

Sora: I finally did it! Hope you like it!

Crazy-88's: Yeah I know I seem to suck at proof reading but I do it a lot more these days! Hope you like it!

Pervy Muskrat: Why thank you XD! No worries I do try my best to edit out and typos and grammar errors but I sometimes miss a few! Thanks for your comment!

Itachiluver: Um you kinda contradicted yourself there XD Oh well never mind I hope you glad for the update! Ja ne!

Devil's dame13: Thanks for your review I hope you enjoy this!

And that's it! That's all the reviews I received for chapter five and my note in chapter 6! Wow I got 29 reviews! (Yup I'm sad enough to count them) I'm so happy I really hope everyone enjoys this chapter! And until next time, Ja ne!

Jade xx

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Chapter 6: Avoidance and Alchemy assessments.

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Roy Mustang was worried.

He didn't try to show it on his face as he sat in his dull, boring office and signed several papers that needed his attention, but he was worried about Edward, his adopted son whom he loved dearly; for the past few months the young blonde had been acting very...oddly around him, at first it was just the blonde being quieter than usual, then he began coming home late from school, and even avoiding Mustang altogether and it had the dark haired lieutenant Colonel rather worried.

To be honest Roy was at a loss of what to do; he'd never raised a child before and Edward had always been such a polite, obedient child, so there had been no need for him to use any tactics to get Edward to listen to him or for him to do as he was told. But at the moment it was frustrating, he could hardly ever find the golden haired neko and when he did, the blonde usually ended up avoiding him or cutting the conversation short, and to Roy it felt like he was banging his head against and Edward-shaped brick wall.

He wondered who he should turn to for advice; he instantly decided against asking his aunt Izumi; she would tell him to give Edward a clip around the ear which Roy doubted he could ever do to the young blonde, not after what the blonde had already been through, then he considered ringing the orphanage for help, but also decided against it think he would sound foolish asking for help now instead of when Edward was younger.

Roy's only last resort was Hughes; he was the only person who Roy knew personally that had a child and could possibly give him some sound advice, the only bad side to this, was that he'd probably have to suffer having photos of Elyisa being shoved in his face before Hughes was serious enough to help him. Roy was in the middle of weighing whether having Hughes photos shoved in his face outweighed getting advice for Edwards sake, when he heard a very faint click right next to his right ear.

Roy had spent years listening to the sound, to many it was insignificant, but to Roy Mustang that sound meant he was close to death by a certain happy trigger First Lieutenant. The dark haired Lieutenant Colonels back jerked straight and his dark eyes were wide and alert as Riza Hawkeye spoke. "Sir if you don't get on with your two week backlog of paperwork, I'm afraid I may have to commit an act of treason and shoot you" she said this in a very calm and level manner but Roy, who had heard these threats before could easily hear the subtle tones of malice in her voice.

Roy Mustang swallowed and nodded, picking up his pen once more and signing as many papers as possible while the Lieutenant watched over him; while she was there he couldn't afford for his mind to wander lest he actually loses it because Riza decided to actually shoot him in the head for slacking. Riza meanwhile just watched the man a frown on her face; the man hadn't been himself lately, sure he slacked off everyone in a while; everyone did in Mustang's office, but he'd been a lot more distracted lately and it was really affecting his work, the blonde solider wanted to inquire if everything was alright at home with him and Edward but she knew it wasn't her place to ask about such personal matters, so for now, she remained silent.

After about twenty minutes Riza was satisfied that he was working hard enough and she left to do her own work, but it wasn't long after she had left that the dark haired man began slacking again now that Riza's influence was gone. The dark haired man sighed as his mind wandered back to wondering if he should get advice from Hughes, and after ten more minutes of giving it thought Roy decided that's he'd try to sneak out of work early; Riza always went to grab a coffee at around 4.30, if he could sneak out after her, he'd be home by 5pm, just in time to see Edward make dinner, he could sneak in on the blonde and find out what his problem was (Edward had a tendency to talk out loud to himself when something was bothering him or he had to remember something)

Then, with his plan set in motion he bent down over his papers and got back to work.

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12 year old Edward Elric sighed as he finally arrived home from school; he'd been given a detention for nearly fighting with another pupil in class today who called him a midget, luckily the teacher had broken it up before a bit of pushing and shoving before it had turned into punches and kicks. Edward was glad to see that his adopted father hadn't come home yet, much to the blonde neko's relief; he really didn't want to explain to Roy why he was late home (Because he couldn't lie to Roy and he was terrible at it anyway). Dumping his school bag near the door he took off his shoes and headed into the kitchen to make some dinner for him and Roy; Even though the blonde had been avoiding the dark haired man recently he still made dinner for them both; it was a habit he'd picked up from his mother when she was still alive, she had loved to cook and Edward seemed to have picked up her passion.

With great reluctance Edward pushed a small stool over to the kitchen counter; the small neko hated using this but he didn't have a choice, it was either this or chop vegetables blindly and risk the chances of cutting his own fingers off. He washed potatoes, carrots and mushrooms than un-podded some fresh peas and chopped up an onion, then he hopped over to the fridge and took out some juicy stakes, which he brought back to the counter and he carefully chopped up, then he took down a frying pan from a small shelf above him, and added a little oil from the small bottle on the counter, then he fried the meat and onions. Once they were cooked he put it all into the pan added the chopped vegetables, then put some beef stock and some water in the pan to make a stew.

As he did all this his thoughts wandered over to Roy; he'd been avoiding him a lot over the past few months and he knew he was worrying the man a lot, but Edward didn't know what else to do, he knew he loved his adopted father a lot more than he should and he knew it was wrong, he'd even read in a book that incest was illegal in virtually every country he could name, but Edward knew Roy wasn't his REAL father so it wasn't really incest right?

The blonde shook his head and sighed as he stirred the stew; to be honest he really didn't know and he didn't know who to talk to about this; his teachers were a definite no-no, they'd defiantly tell Roy, and he couldn't tell Russell either, he'd be disgusted and hate him and Russell (Apart from Winry and Al who lived miles away) was the only friend he really had, he couldn't bare losing him. So Edward was stuck with bottling his problem up and pretending to everyone that he didn't have a crush on Roy, but that meant staying away from the one person he'd like nothing more than to hug and be near all the time.

'But I can't' Edward thought as he continued stirring the stew his eyes brimming with tears as his golden cat ears drooped sadly. 'The more I'm near him the stronger these feelings get, I have to stop them before they get too big for me to control, if I don't...then Roy will find out and he'll hate me' Edward sniffed and wiped his tears away in the sleeve of his school shirt, then he took a deep breath and he wiped all the counters with a clean cloth and cleared away the vegetable clippings and put them in the bin, he then noticed the clock and sighed "Roy will be home soon" Edward said quietly to himself as he placed his automail hand over his heart; it was aching to be with the man right now but he couldn't allow it, not now and not ever.

A few minutes later the stew was done he poured out two bowls one for himself and one for Roy, then he placed the rest in a container and put it in the fridge to eat later, then he took a spoon and his bag up into his room. Once he was there he ate his food and did his homework within ten minutes. Then once everything was done he snuck out of his room into the spare bedroom.

This bedroom as mainly for any visitors such as his teacher Izumi or for Winry and Al to stay in, but this room also held a secret; it opened the doorway into the attic.

Edward stood on the bed on his tiptoes as he tried to grab the string that was dangling from the ceiling, after a few failed tries he finally managed to grab a hold of it and with a giggle he jumped off the edge of the bed, using his weight to open the trap door which, once open, slid a ladder down giving Edward easy access into the attic. Quickly the blonde neko scrambled up the stairs and closed the trapdoor behind him.

There was darkness for a moment, then a faint click and a single dull light bulb flickered to life, the attic air was a little musty but the attic itself was clean and free of dust; the blonde had spent one Saturday when his adopted father was working overtime to clean this area out, so he could regularly use it to practise his alchemy without having to explain to Roy about why he had chalk marks all over the wooden floor in his bedroom. This way he could practise to his hearts content and as long as Roy wasn't here when he was practising, the dark haired man would never find out about this place.

Currently the attic was stacked full of various alchemy books, some Edward had borrowed from the local library, and some his adopted father had given him or had taken out of central headquarters library, there was a small table that was littered with papers and sketches of transmutation circles Edward had made, and on the floor which took up half of the attic space, was a large transmutation circle, it wasn't quite complete yet as some of it needed filling in or changing but the blonde knew he was getting there.

The blonde sighed and picked up a book that had been placed next to a stool and sat down and opened the book to where it had been bookmarked earlier; the transmutation circle was so he could get in contact with the gate, he'd read about it, it was apparently a mythical gate that held all knowledge and could give you anything you wanted...for a price. Edward wanted to meet it, he wanted to see if this was the gate he sometimes heard his teacher taking about, and he wanted to see if the gate could give him the same ability that his teacher had; the ability to use alchemy without drawing a transmutation circle first.

It was because of what had happened a month earlier that he had begun obsessing over getting this power...

_Edward had been coming home from school one day, late again because he had been given another detention, when he'd heard a girl crying; it was faint and quiet and was hard to hear on the busy main road of the evening rush hour, but Edward heard it; it was because of his father and his regular beatings that he could fine tune his hearing to heard the faintest creak of a door or the thump of his footsteps and this was no different._

_Curious he stepped into the alley, his neko tail twitching behind him; the alleyway was dark and dull compared to the brightly lit busy roads but Edward could see perfectly well what was going on; a young girl, probably not much older then seventeen was being pinned up against a wall, a knife to her throat, she had bright blonde hair like he did and bright blue eyes that were currently wide with fear, tears pouring down her cheeks, the pale blue dress she wore had gotten covered in slime and one arm of the dress had was torn._

_"Now, now don't cry poppet, you just give me all your money and jewellery than I'll take you hostage, as leverage" The man holding the knife to the young girls neck said with a sneer, he had dark eyes and dark hair that was greasy and matted, his cloths were ragged and dirty and he had a bottle sticking out of one of his pockets._

_This man reminded him of his father, he looked too much like his father and instead of being scared (He had stopped being scared of his real dad once he understood he was behind bars in a prison miles away) he became extremely angry, quickly he pulled out a piece of chalk he always carried around with him; a habit ever since he began using transmutation circles by himself and began drawing one on the dirty ground with amazing speed for a young child, then activated it without pausing._

_Suddenly the ground around the man morphed and moved around the man and before he could understand what was happening, giant stone hand wrapped around the man and held him tightly in place. The man struggled but it was no use, Edward's alchemy hand made sure that the man couldn't move his arms or legs._

_The young girl's eyes widened at the stone hand currently holding her would-be captive "A-alchemy?…" The girl whispered before looking around the dark alleyway "H-Hello?" she called out obviously still scared Edward took a deep breath and stepped out of the shadows "Are you okay?" He asked gently worried that if he spoke any louder he might frighten the young girl._

_Instead of being scared the girl stepped over to him shakily, then before Edward could react she dropped onto her knees and embraced him in a tight hug, her shoulders shaking, whether from relief or from the adrenaline still pumping through her from the fear, the young neko didn't know, but he'd tensed at the contact for a moment before he relaxed and patted her on the head gently "I was so scared" The girl whispered, her voice shaking "I t-thought he was going t-to kill me…" she held onto the young boy for a minute more before letting him go and wiping her eyes she looked at the boy a watery smile on her face "T-thank you so much for helping me, what's your name?" She asked_

_The blonde gave her a small smile "Edward, my name is Edward Eric" he said quietly and the girl nodded giving the small boy a watery smile, slowly she stood up picking up her purse that she had dropped when she had been attacked and turned to the blonde child "I am Anna, please, come with me, My father must hear of what you did for me and he'll find some way to repay you I'm sure of it" She said as she wiped her eyes. "Is there anything you would like?"_

_The blonde child looked up at Anna and thought about this "Is your father in the military?" He asked quietly upon noticing a pair of dog tags dangling from her slender neck; something that was unlike a lady of her high status to wear. Anna seemed surprised at this question but nodded her eyes glinting with pride._

"_Yes, my father is a General in the military and he is often sent away from home so, when I was little, he gave me his dog tags to remind me of him, he said that when I have them on while he's away its like a bit of him is still with me" she said with a smile "I've always worn it whether is at home or not…why do you want to know?"_

_Edward thought about his answer for a moment then with renewed determination the looked up at her "Do you think…your dad could let me take the state alchemy exams?"_

-----------------------------

After that Edward had found himself in the girls large house in front of an aging man, who looked like he was in his late forties, he had dark grey eyes and wrinkles around his eyes and his mouth when he smiled. He was pleasant enough guy, who eagerly agreed to sneak Edward into the state assessment exams, also fervently swearing under pain of death that he would not tell a certain Lieutenant Colonel or any of his associates. The blonde neko he'd already taken the written test and the medical exam and had passed them both with flying colours, now all he had to do was attend the practical test, but in order for him so he needed to figure out this ability.

After reading for a few more minutes her placed the book down and began adjusting the array with some chalk, the young blonde worked in silence for at least half an hour, adjusting the circle and rubbing out parts he didn't need. Then one he'd finished the young neko whipped his sweaty forehead "I think…I've done it" the blonde neko whispered excitedly as he put down the chalk he stared at his creation; the transmutation circle was extremely complicated with various symbols in and around the circle, If the blonde had gotten one thing out of place then all his weeks of hard work would be for nothing, and there would probably be some harsh consequences too.

Taking a deep breath he carefully placed his hands on the array and watched it light up, praying he'd done everything right

----------------------

Roy Mustang sighed in relief as arrived home early from work; he'd managed to sneak out when his First Lieutenant had gone to take her usual post afternoon coffee break. Sighing with relief, he closed the door quietly stopping in his tracks when he spotted Edwards back pack on the floor, then looking up; he'd expected Edward to be nowhere in sight, but to his surprise he could hear the blonde rattling around in the kitchen. Smiling to himself, he quietly closed the door behind him and crept over to the kitchen to watch the young blonde neko stirring something in a pot which smelled delicious, Roy could only guess that the blonde had made stew, the neko began cleaning up the kitchen completely unaware that the dark haired man was watching him in the doorway hoping that maybe he could find out what was on the young neko's mind; you see Edward had a habit of muttering to himself when he had a problem or was trying to think through a problem, so he'd just wait to see what would pop up in the blonde neko's mind.

Roy didn't have a fear of being caught by his adopted son either; whenever Edward was absorbed in a task of some sort, nothing could divert his attention not even when Roy called out to him so he doubted Edward would spot him at the door way. A few minutes passed in silence and the dark haired alchemist found it odd, but then again that was just another thing that had changed with Edward; he wouldn't speak to him anymore not even to himself, it was like he was shutting Roy out and the dark haired man didn't know why. "Roy will be home soon" he heard the blonde say quietly to himself jerking Roy out of his thoughts.

He looked at the blonde and felt his heart breaking; why? Why did Edward look so sad when he said that? Swallowing heavily he silently turned away from the kitchen and opened the front door closing it behind him quietly. He leaned on the door deep in though fro a moment, before taking a deep breath and walking away from the house.

--------------------------

Edward meanwhile felt cold….very cold and light headed 'Did it work? Am I here?' The young neko opened his eyes slowly and saw a bright yellow light and that was all he could see a bright yellow light as far as his eyes could see; there were no trees, no grass, no houses or other people, just him and this hazy yellow nothingness. With a sigh the blonde alchemist began sitting up, and he groaned and rubbed the back of his head which was aching for some reason 'Where am I?

'**Where do you think you are little one?'**

The young neko's eyes snapped open and he spun around in shock at the deep voice that called to him, and found him self almost face to face with a large black gate, eyes carved into he black stone. The blonde chilled shivered in fear and stumbled away from it in surprise, then there was a roar of laughter coming from the gate, the blonde child could hear others laughing with the voice, other's whispering excitedly behind the gate…

'**Now, Now there is no need to be afraid, you came here to look for me did you not…Edward Elric?'**

The blonde blinked; the gate knew his name? But how? He hadn't even spoken yet! "How do you know who I am?" He finally said standing up properly and facing the gate, his head cocked to one side curiously.

'**I…am the gate of truth, the gate of all knowledge I know all that there is to know in this world, and in others, and I know everything about you, I know what you wish for, and what you…desire perhaps?' **The gate chuckled in amusement as Ed yelped in surprise as a vision of his adopted father appeared beside him, smiling, accepting him. Edward walked over to Roy, and tried to touch him, but it was a vision after all and Edward hand passed right through the fake Roy's arm. **'I will grant you what you want…but there will be a price'**

The blonde child swallowed and backed away from the vision of his adopted father, while shaking his head "I don't want Roy…well I do but…It can't work between us anyway…and…and id never…never force him to…no, I want to be able to perform alchemy without…without drawing circles first...I want to be able to clap my hands and do what I need to" Edward said clapping his flash and automail hand together in a demonstration of what he wanted. "Do…do you think you could do that for me and if so…what do I have to pay??"

There was silence for a moment and the gate chuckled **'That is all you want? To be able to unlock the full potential a human can have when performing alchemy? I see…I can do it, and usually I ask for someone's legs for this ability, but for a mere child such as yourself…I'll take that automail arm of yours' **the gate said with a chuckle** 'So…do we have a deal Edward Elric?'**

The young neko thought about this for a moment; should he really make this deal? Sure he was only going to lose his automail arm so it wouldn't hurt much, but then again he was going to have to explain to Roy where his arm went and he really didn't want to talk to the man… 'But…I want to pass the exam…' Edward took a look at his automail arm, then at the Gate before he nodded "Alright, you have a deal"

There was a chuckle as the black carved doors of the gate opened slowly, creaking on its hinges and the young boys eyes widened; he couldn't see what exactly was in there, only a pulsating mass of black, then eyes opened and peered at him hungrily, then before Edward could yelp in panic, thin black arms shot out and wrapped themselves around the blonde who screamed and struggled, but it was no use, with one last triumphant laugh from the gate, the blonde neko was pulled into the gate, the black doors shutting on the blondes terrified screams.

---------------------

Roy meanwhile had arrived at the only place he could go for advice and knocked on a familiar white door three times before waiting for an answer. When the door opened he expected his friend to start joking around with him, but he didn't; Hughes saw the heartbroken look on Roy's face and knew now was not the time for messing around. "Roy? Are you okay? Has something happened?" the spectacled man asked with a frown at his friends face; he didn't think he'd ever seen his best friend looking so miserable or depressed before; His face was paler than usual, so much so that it almost looked unhealthy, there were dark circles under his eyes and his hair was a mess.

The dark haired man just let himself be guided onto a nearby couch then once Hughes had made some tea and pushed a warm mug into his hands he finally spoke. "Edward hates me" he whispered to the floor; he didn't have the energy to look at his best friend right now; he was convinced that he'd done something to make Edward avoid him.

Maes meanwhile blinked in surprise at this; whenever he and his family had visited the two they'd always seemed happy together, but recently it'd had gone totally downhill and he knew Roy must be worried out of his wits, but to say Edward hated him all of a sudden? "Okay I think you'd better start from the beginning Roy because from what I could tell Edward always adored you"

So the dark haired solider took a deep breath, and told his best friend everything that had happened in the past few months, from Edward acting odd around him and then avoiding him altogether. "He won't talk to me anymore Maes, its driving me mad, I keep thinking I might have done something to upset him!"

The dark haired man's friend hummed for a moment as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully; that sort of behaviour was certainly odd to say the least but at the blonde's age it wasn't exactly unusual either. "I think your thinking about this a little too personally Roy, he's growing up and he's almost a teenager, they go though phases like these, I know my Elyisa is already and she's only 10, she keeps ignoring me if she doesn't get her own way"

The dark haired alchemist sighed and leaned back in his chair; maybe he was looking too deeply into this, maybe it was just one of those things kids go through when they turn into teenagers and it didn't have anything to do with him; if that was true then Edward would turn back to normal soon and then he'd have nothing to worry about right? "So it's just a phase…"

Maes sighed and leaned forward, ruffling his friends already unkempt hair playfully "Seriously Roy, you take things far too personally sometimes, it probably has nothing to do with you and I seriously doubt that Edward would ever hate you, he probably just has a crush on some girl at school and wants to sort it out himself, you know how independent kids get, and Edwards no exception, after all we've both seen him become more confident in himself, trust me its just a phase and it'll pass"

The dark haired alchemist sighed and smiled at his friend, feeling a little better than he had been before "Thanks Maes" he said while his best friend chuckled and leaned back in his chair and finished drinking his lukewarm tea. "Your welcome, now, shouldn't you be getting back to him? He's probably wondering where you are" Roy nodded and placed his still half full cup on the coffee table then with another nod of thanks, left the Hughes household and began walking back to his own.

-------------------------

When Edward awoke, the first thing he remembered was the gate and sat up hastily trying to look around in the dimness, after a moment of panic he realized that, he was back in the attic no huge black gate to be seen, after sighing with relief, the second thing he noticed was the pain: it wasn't bad, in comparison of getting his automail fixed to his body, but it did throb annoyingly, and when Edward turned to look at his automail arm, it was gone, only a few wires that were poking out from the automail socket was all that remained 'Great, now I'll need a new arm before I can perform alchemy! And how am I gonna explain this to Roy??' the blonde child pouted as he got unsteadily on his feet. Suddenly a wave of dizziness washed over him and he had to use the attic wall to steady himself, when he regained his balance and wiped his forehead he found it drenched in sweat 'I must be coming down with a cold or something,,,' The blonde thought as he lowered the ladder down to the spare bedroom, suddenly the neko felt really tired and light-headed, he managed to get down from the attic and stagger out of the spare bedroom, but then he sunk down onto his knees and before everything went black, and he collapsed in a heap on the hallway floor.

It wasn't a minute or so after Edward had collapsed, that Roy arrived home "Edward?" He called, as he looked in the living room and kitchen for his adopted son but the child was nowhere to be found. Sighing heavily, the dark haired alchemist took off his dark outer coat and headed up the stairs, intending to see whether Edward was in is room, when he spotted the blonde in a heap on the hallway floor "Edward! Edward wake up, talk to me!" Roy cried shaking the unconscious blonde neko gently, when Ed didn't respond he tried turning him over and gasped; Edward's automail arm was missing and looked like it had been ripped from it's socket "My god, what happened to you" Roy whispered in horror as he gathered to boy in his arms as he ran down the stairs, grabbed the phone in the hallway and called an ambulance.

The ambulance arrived within 5 minutes of the call and they checked Edward's signs "It looks like he's developed a high fever, must be due to his automail being torn out, sometimes the strain of such a thing happening can trigger a dormant illness" one paramedic said as he shone a light in each of Edward's unresponsive eyes "He's not responding, and his breathing his uneven, we need to get him to the hospital ASAP" the paramedic and his partner both placed the unconscious boy onto a stretcher and carted him into the ambulance Roy following. As soon as the dark haired man was inside the ambulance he sat next to the blonde and held his hand, squeezing it gently, feeling as though he wanted to cry and feeling as though he was to blame; he'd left the blonde on his own and the door had been unlocked; what if Edward had been attacked by someone? What if Edward had tried to fight off the attacker and they had torn out his arm? These thoughts just made the dark haired man feel even more guilty and did not help his state of mind at all "I'm so sorry Edward…" he whispered sadly as the ambulance engine started up and drove them both to Central hospital.

-----------------

When Edward woke again he ached all over; his mouth felt like a desert and his joints screamed in protest at being moved. 'What happened to me?' the small neko thought as he open his eyes slowly and tired to focus on the room; all he could see was a white door and of white walls in front of him, neither of which looked familiar. Slowly he tried to sit up, gasping as he spotted his right arm; the arm where his automail used to be ached, and instead of an empty socket like he'd expected, a shiny brand new automail arm had been attached onto his arm to replace his old one, and was poking out of a plain white shirt he was wearing that was far to big for him, his shoulder plate which the arm got attached to was still aching, as it did for a few hours after automail being re-attached to his nerves 'T-that must mean Winry and Al must be here somewhere…' The neko thought as his vision focused and he looked to his right, there was nothing but a plain window showing that it was pitch black outside and probably the middle of the night, there was also a jug of water and a clean glass on a bedside table next to the bed.

Upon turning to his left he froze, there sat next to him and fast asleep, was Roy, his head was using the bed as a pillow sleeping peacefully, though his face looked paler than usual. The blonde neko's gold eyes softened and he reached out with his flesh hand and raked a hand through Roy's messy hair. 'I've been avoiding him and not talking to him...and he still worries about me' the blonde neko thought his cat ears drooping sadly.

Suddenly, the door opened and a young nurse with dark hair and blue eyes walked in "Oh! You're awake!" She whispered softly with a friendly smile as she walked in and closed the door quietly behind "No need to worry I just came to check up on you, I'm Jade your nurse, you all had us worried for a while, what with your arm in such a state and your high fever" carefully, she checked Edward's pulse and his temperature before giving him a relived smile "Well it looks like your fevers broken so that's good…" she smiled then glanced from Edwards worried face to Roy the young nurse picked up on his worry and chuckled. "Oh don't worry about him, he's been sat here watching you ever since you were admitted here two days ago, it looks like he's finally getting some rest so you should leave him be" the young nurse said with a reassuring smile "Your mechanics re-fitted your arm as well a few hours ago and are resting in a residency room down that hall if you'd like to see them tomorrow" The blonde just nodded quietly letting the nurse do her job. Once she had finished her check ups she wrote everything down on a small clipboard "You should try and sleep some more it's a while until breakfast will be served" Then with one last nod she left the room.

Edward didn't sleep for the rest of the day however. He continued to sit up and watch his adopted father sleep peacefully on his bed, occasionally stroking the man on the head while he was deep in thought as the sun rose into the sky 'So I've been out of it for two days, no matter what I do I just keep worrying him' The young neko thought as he continued watching Roy sleep, the blonde neko lost count of how long he watched the man, but when the sun was high in the sky the door opened and a male nurse walked in carrying two trays of food followed by two familiar faces.

"Ed!" Winry whispered happily as both her and her younger brother embraced Edward in a hug making sure they were quiet so as not to wake the dark haired solider "We were so worried about you! Mr Mustang called up in a panic and said he thought you'd been attacked because your arm was missing, so we got the first train over here yesterday morning and fitted your arm while you were still unconscious, how does it feel?" Winry asked as Edward flexed his new arm slowly before he nodded and smiled weakly.

"Its fine Winry it looks great…is this a new design?" The blonde asked, noticing that his new automail looked a little different; Alphonse nodded his sandy ears twitching in happiness as he sat on the bottom of the young neko's bed. "Yeah, this design should be easier for you to manage…so how are you feeling? The doctors said you had a really bad fever and for a while they didn't think you'd make it your temperature was so high…"

Edward sighed and smiled weakly "I feel okay just a bit tired and groggy…how's Roy?" He asked looking over at the man, who was still completely fast asleep despite the three of them talking. Winry and Al exchanged a look before the sandy haired girl sighed while Al bit his lip and took a deep breath.

"He…he took your illness pretty badly ainki (1) he wouldn't leave your side even for a moment, he wouldn't sleep and he refused to eat, he really panicked when the doctors rushed into your room last night, I think the reason he's asleep now is because his body couldn't stay awake any more and he just...crashed out" the sandy haired neko explained.

This explanation however just made Edward feel even more guilty than he already did but he tried not to show it on his face as he caught up with his friends, then once they had left him to eat his breakfast he dropped all pretences and sighed sadly glancing over at his adopted father "Gomen nasai tousan (2) Edward said then, not touching the food that had been left on the bedside table, lay back down, pulled up the covers to his neck and curled up to sleep next to his adopted father.

---------------------

The dark haired alchemist awoke a few hours later, his stomach growling and his head pounding from lack of sleep and stress, the first thing he did was check on Edward who looked a lot better then he did last night. Roy sighed in relief and raked a hand through Ed's hair gently, then he frowned when he realized it was full of knots; the dark haired solider sighed and reached down for a small bag; he had called Riza as soon as he was in the hospital to tell her he wouldn't be coming into work, and the blonde haired women had kindly offered to gather up a few things for them both, one of those things happened to be Edward's hairbrush. Slowly Roy began undoing the tangles in the blonde's hair, with the brush, taking his time to get rid of all the knots, not knowing that Edward had already woken up and was enjoying the pampering his adopted father was giving him, he made sure the pretend to be relaxed, like he was still asleep as he felt the brush going through his hair.

Once Roy was finished and the blonde neko's hair was smooth and shiny again, he rummaged around in the bag for a hair tie then he set about braiding the blonde neko's hair; it was tricky because of the funny angle in which Edward slept so it was a little crooked but he managed it eventually and tied the end off with a hair tie and a red ribbon. Once he was finished he gently shook the blonde to wake him "Edward...Edward wake up..."

The blonde didn't want to move, but he knew he couldn't fake being asleep forever, so slowly he opened his eyes and looked at his adopted father sadly not bothering to try and get up he just stared at Roy while still lying on the bed. "Are you mad at me?" He asked softly; he really couldn't blame the older man if he was, after all he'd destroyed his automail and treated the older man like crap for the past few months. The dark haired man just stared at the young neko before he shook his head. The dark haired man reached over to the blonde gently he plucked Edward out of the bed and into his arms. The blonde flushed at the close contact and wanted to struggle, to get away but his guilt from how he'd treated the man earlier stopped him from doing so and he forced himself to relax as Roy's arms wrapped around him and the man buried his face in his hair.

"I could never be mad at you Edward" Roy murmured softly as he rocked the blonde child back and forth gently "You scare the hell out of me sometimes, but I could never get mad at you" the dark haired man whispered chuckling weakly as he did so "I'm not going to ask you what happened to your arm, You've been through enough and…I just don't want to know, all I care about is that you're okay"

Edward just nodded and remained silent, trying not to feel too comfortable in the man's arms, trying to deny he wanted more of the man's love and comfort which he offered unconditionally, but he couldn't, he was there feeling the dark haired solders warmth all around him, his arms holding him in place, but it was futile, he might have been in denial about this for a while, but he knew now, he didn't just have crush on this adopted father.

He was in love with him.

He knew this because whenever he saw the man he wanted nothing more than to make him happy, and his heart soared in his chest whenever Roy smiled at him and his face heated up when the man spoke, but more then that he felt as though his heart was breaking every time he tried to shut himself away from the man. All these emotions churned inside of him all the time and he just couldn't stop thinking about him, it was more than an infatuation Edward knew that but how was he supposed to tell the one person who had cared for him like a son, that he was in love with him?

Burying his face in Roy's chest he once again vowed to never let the man know how he really felt even if it meant hurting the man and avoiding him again, because that was better than the older man knowing the truth and hating him forever, so Edward would make sure his adopted father would never know of his true feelings. So with that vow in place the blonde child began bottling up every once of affection he had for Roy Mustang.

-----------------------

A couple of days after the incident with his automail, Edward was given a clean bill of health and discharged from the hospital, with a gentle note to take it easy for the next few days. After that things generally went back to normal, Edward was still avoiding Roy, but the dark haired alchemist had taken his best friends advice and given the blonde the space he obviously wanted, but after two weeks of Edward's behaviour and finding that it wasn't changing, Roy was beginning to think that perhaps this problem wasn't to do with him but maybe something at school, but because of the state alchemist assessment coming up, and due to him having a week's backlog of paperwork, he was working overtime and didn't have time to confront the blonde neko.

Edward meanwhile, continued avoiding Roy and secretly began practising the new skill the gate had given him in his secret room in the attic, whenever his adopted father wasn't around; he was relived to find that the gate had held up his end of the bargain and his alchemy skill worked the same way as his aunts. 'With this skill I'm sure to pass!' The blonde neko thought happily to himself. Once he was satisfied that he'd mastered his new skill to a certain degree he went back to reading up on alchemic theories and memorizing them, each one a possible array he could use in the exam.

Roy meanwhile didn't notice any of this whenever he can home he was often so exhausted from all the paperwork and errands he'd been forced to run that he often collapsed in bed still fully clothed and without eating. Feeling sorry for Roy on these occasions Edward would cover then man in a blanket and make the dark haired solider a packed lunch for tomorrow so the man wouldn't starve to death while at work.

As the state assessments drew nearer Edward began feeling more nervous about actually performing his alchemy in front of thousands of people that always came to watch the event, but the blonde neko was more nervous on what Roy would say when he found out; he wasn't naïve, he knew that his secret of participating in the exam would reach his adopted father sooner or later, after all he was the youngest participant in the history of the state, so Roy or any one of his subordinates were bound to find out.

To the blonde's surprise however, Roy didn't find out and if he did, he never mentioned it which was a good sign for Edward 'That means by the time he DOES find out it'll be to late, I'll have already realized my dream of being a state alchemist and it'll be too latte for him to stop me' Edward thought as he pretended to be packing his things for school; today was Sunday and Roy usually didn't work on this day but again he was working overtime so Edward had decided to pack everything he needed for the practical exam; chalk, (Just in case his ability fails him), three alchemy books (All so he could do some last minute revising) his lunch (he didn't know when he'd be up to take the test so it was in case he got hungry) and a small automail care kit (Just in case he messed up his arm again). Once he was packed he sat on his bed and twiddled his thumbs nervously; passing this exam meant everything to him, not only would he work alongside his adopted father (Even though he wanted to avoid the man, his goal hadn't changed) and he'd finally be granted access to the central headquarters library, where only alchemists are allowed to go.

The dark haired Lieutenant Colonel however had no idea what his adopted son had been plotting for the past two months, and on the morning of the exams he was still being pressed to finish as much of his paperwork and errands by a persistent Riza Hawkeye who constantly had her gun pointed level with his head then she had the gall to bark orders at him, but Roy wasn't complaining because doing errands meant being away from that gun for two minutes.

The dark hired man sighed as he leaned on the nearest wall in the hell way and rested for a moment, the past week had been busy non-stop; even Havoc hadn't had time to have a cigarette break and no one was allowed to slack off even being forced to do unpaid overtime to get rid of their backlog of paperwork. Roy was just thankful that he'd just finished his backlog and now his scary gun wielding Lieutenant would stop breathing down his neck; it's not that he disliked Riza or anything, but she was just too pushy and bossy for his tastes, especially since HE was of a higher rank than her!

Sighing, the dark haired alchemist pushed off the wall and headed over to Brigadier General Haruko's office; he was supposed to be delivering some report there, with a sigh he knocked on the door and waited for the order to come in; The Brigadier General was in his mid to late forties, he had tanned skin, dark eyes and the most ridiculous moustache Roy had ever seen, he knew that the older man didn't like him, he said outwardly that it was due to the fact the Roy was in competent and didn't deserve his promotions, but in truth the older man was jealous of him due to the fact he'd risen through the ranks so fast in his short career.

"Come in!" a deep voice barked and Roy opened the door he gave the man a quick salute as he entered before placing the file on the desk seen as the Brigadier General was in the middle of writing something "The reports you asked for sir" Roy said politely squashing down the urge to just burn the mans moustache off. Haruko looked up for a moment then at the report, before setting down his pen and picking it up, the General read the contents of the file for a moment before he nodded "Very well you may leave...oh and I hope you'll wish your son good luck from me"

Roy blinked frozen and confused at the man's words "Sir?" He questioned wondering what the hell the man was on about. The General looked back up at him and they both stared at each other for a moment before Haruko shot the younger man a condensing smirk "You mean you don't _know_ Mustang? The news has been spreading around the whole base for the past two weeks! I can't believe YOU of all people don't know!"

Roy resisted the urge to snap his fingers and burn his commanding officer to a crisp, he took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and spoke in a tone of very forced calm "With all due respect _sir,_ I've been too busy to listen to the latest gossip that's been hovering around headquarters, but I would like to know what it has to do with my son" the General leaned back in his chair with a sick smile of satisfaction on his face; he loathed Mustangs every being despite all the fraudulent rumours about him dating every women he saw (Which wasn't true) no one believed them due to the fact he had raised such a wonderfully polite and kind child by himself, who had been abused before and to many that was a kind thing to do, which made people side with him.

It was not the effect that Haruko wanted, he wanted to tarnish his reputation, so much so the man quit, as Roy Mustang had become a thorn in his side for too long, but he knew that the dark haired solider in front of him was the kind of man who wouldn't quit his job easily, not unless someone he cared about was in trouble. "Well it seems that your son, is going to take the state alchemy practical exam today"

Roy's eyes widened in shock; how could he have NOT known this? Why didn't anyone tell him Edward was going to do this "I...I had no idea sir..." The dark haired man stuttered out in shock, he saw Haruko smirk and if it were possible, he hated the man even more; The brigadier General had probably known about this for weeks and he'd said nothing to him. "When is he taking the exam?" he asked desperately; he needed to find Edward and stop him, the blonde neko was just a child, he didn't know the dangers of joining the military and becoming a state alchemist! There was always the risk of a full scale war with Drachma and if war did happen, Edward...Edward would be sent to the front lines despite his young age, the boy would be selling his soul without even realizing!

Haruko shook his head "I'm afraid I do not know that, but if you want to find him he'll be in the parade grounds with the other candidates" Haruko said with a smirk. Gritting his teeth once again Roy saluted turned and marched out of the office as fast as his legs would take him, as soon as he was out of the mans office he began running towards the parade grounds, knowing that back in the office Brigadier General Haruko was laughing at him.

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Edward bit his lip nervously as he looked at the other state alchemist candidates; most of them were men in their mid-twenties and very few women, one women however was stood next to him; She was tall and a little muscular for a women, her dark red hair was tied up into a high ponytail and tied with a black ribbon and had a pair of black goggles resting on her head, she wore a red t-shirt and black jeans and a black leather jacket over the top, she also looked quite bored.

Suddenly she glanced at Edward who flushed at being caught and turned away hurriedly, but then looked back when he heard the girl chuckling in amusement "Nervous kid? Don't worry, everyone is the first time they take the exam" she said in confidant voice. The young neko blinked at her in surprise.

"Y-You've taken it before?" he asked gently peeing up at the tall women who nodded absently her eyes scanning the gathering crowd, who had come to see the candidates; it only happened twice a year and very few people were chosen to be state alchemists, you had to be the best of the best in order to pass.

"Yeah I specialize in water and ice alchemy and a took the test last year, the only reason I failed was because I lost control of my alchemy and injured another participant, but that's not going to happen this year, I've been studying and learning self control since last year so hopefully I'll pass...what about you kiddo? Why are you here? What's your skill?"

Edward blinked and bit his lip half in worry and half in forcing himself not to yell at her for calling him a kid (Even though he WAS a kid, Edward believed that 'kid' 'short') should he tell her about his new ability? It wasn't that he thought the woman was bad or anything, but he didn't want to cause a ruckus or draw attention to himself just yet. "Um I can use alchemy but clapping my hands...I don't need to draw circles" he whispered in a low voice so the other participants couldn't hear him. The women stared at him, a look of utter amazement clear on her face before she smiled a little. "That's amazing, not many people can do that let alone a boy your age, you'll pass easily, just don't lose your nerve ne?" The blonde neko blinked and nodded smiling back a little.

Suddenly there was the sounds of trumpets being blown and the Fuhrer, the most powerful man in the state, appeared on a raised stage; Edward had met him only once before, when he was being asked questions on why he wanted to be a state alchemist, which was a part of the written exam. "Welcome candidates! Today we will test your skills to see whether your worthy of becoming a state alchemist! When your name is called you will come forward and perform alchemy by using the materials available, I wish every one of you luck" Then with one final wave, the Fuhrer sat down in a large chair to watch the action, and a senior officer stepped forward a clip bored in his hand. "Elric, Edward step forward!"

The blonde jerked in surprise at his name being called first, he was so surprised that he didn't even move when his name was called, however the women he'd been speaking smiled and gave him a nudge forward "Go on kiddo, do your best" He blinked at her and nodded before taking a deep breath and walking through the other candidates and out into to the open area of the parade grounds. There was murmuring for several moments as the crowd stared at him in shock, but the blonde ignored it and walked over to the piles of materials that he needed, taking a deep breath and hoping his ability wouldn't fail him he clapped his hands.

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Aniki- Means brother in Japanese; it is used between friends who consider themselves closer or as close as brothers.

Gomen Nasai tousan- roughly translated this means "I'm sorry dad"

Aaaand that's all for today! Ha I bet you thought there was going to be more didn't ya! Well tough I'd been struggling with this for months and I thought it was the perfect place to stop it! I hope you guys are happy with the update! Until next time!

Jade xx


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